Itna bada desh....yeh poora mera hain?

     One day, in my dreams, God asked me,"What is your wish? Tell me and I will grant it".
I said, "Dear God, if I deserve, give me a huge house where I can live happily ever after".

God gave me a palace to live in. It was a diamond-shaped, palatial mansion, with a sprawling garden around it, and a glittering lake behind. I was overjoyed. I started living there. I settled down in one of the rooms. I was happy. The basement was a self-sufficient storehouse of wealth : everything I needed for well-being. The house gave me everything that I had wished for, wanted to possess, loved to enjoy.

 

Time passed. I found I am busy in my room, living.

• Then I head someone has dirtied the lake. I closed the window facing the lake.
• Then I heard, pests have destroyed the garden.  I decided to stay indoors. I stopped visiting the garden.
• Days passed, and I limited myself to my room : I never came to know who lived in the other 27 rooms. I met my neighbour once, but did not understand the language s/he spoke. I never put in effort to understand him/her, and resigned to the thought 'Oh they are different : I cannot gel with them'.
• As the weeks passed, the corridors and staircases got piled with trash. I was too busy to clear it. I could not get in touch with others in the mansion. 
• Then I heard, the north-eastern corner has been crushed by the intruding branch of a massive banyan tree in the backyard. The inhabitants of that corner left the palace. I felt relieved that at least my room was OK.
• Then the news arrived that foxes (from the forest behind the lake) have dug underground furrows, and leaking the food out of the basement. I got less share from the storehouse everyday, but soon became OKAY with this deprivation. I heard the looted wealth is getting piled up in a distant den, but did nothing to get it back and kill the foxes.
• One day a fire broke out in the neighbour's room, destroying all belongings. I shut my windows to avoid the fumes in my room. My neighbour lost his children in the fire, and I conceded helplessness.
• Finally, one night, when I was asleep, intruders from the nearby palace, in the north-west, broke open my door, smashed my belongings, killed me, and dumped my body into the dirty lake. They plundered the storehouse, captured all wealth, and killed all the inhabitants one by one, ruthlessly.

I left my body and went to God. I complained, "Dear God, tell me why did all this happen? I was happily living in the house you gave me. But now it has been destroyed. What did I do to deserve this? You have given me a beautiful palace to live in, and today I have been driven out from there. Why did you not protect me?"

God smiled and said, "I gift such huge palaces to only a few deserving people. With great ambition comes great hardships, and with great power comes great responsibility. When I gifted you the mansion, it became your responsibility. When I gave you the beautiful house, I did not say "I will look after it"! If the lake is yours, you had to clean it. If the garden is infested, you had to protect it and kill the pests. If a floor collapses, you had to reinstall it. If the storehouse is attacked, you had to defend it, and later fortify it. If there is a fire, you had to douse it, and later prevent it. If intruders came, you had to defend yourself, and your house. I gave you a big mansion as your house, but you confined yourself in your room and imagined only the room to be your house. The size of your house was large : the size of your thinking remained small. I gave you this gift not because you deserved it : I gave you this responsibility because you promised you could shoulder it. You were ambitious to own a huge palace : but you did not put in the effort to hold on to it."

"But God", I protested,"How can I do all that? I am too puny and helpless to shoulder this responsibility".

"Then, my child", said God, "You deserve a small cave to remain confined, instead of living life 'king size' in a mansion. It will have no storehouse : you will have to hunt for your basic needs every single day. It will lie unprotected, open to predators. Every single day would be a challenge to survive."

I realized my mistake. I understood I have taken everything for granted. My ambition is my own responsibility. My well-being is my own lookout. I will have to pay the price of my own happiness and success.

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Then one day, (NOT in my dreams), God asked me,"What do you wish? Tell me and I will grant it."

I asked, "Dear God, if I deserve, give me a big country where I can live happily ever after". 

God gifted me India to live in. It was a diamond-shaped, beautiful country, with sprawling natural wealth in it, and a huge ocean behind. I was overjoyed. I started living there. I settled down in one of the towns. I was happy. The economy was a self-sufficient storehouse of wealth : everything I needed for well-being. The country gave me everything that I had wished for, wanted to possess, loved to enjoy.

• Then I heard someone has dirtied the river flowing past the town. We crusaded with the local municipality and cleaned it up.
• Then I heard that the mafia has been illegally exploiting and looting the forests and the mines. We sent our armed forces there, wiped out the traitors, rehabilitated the victimized population there; and then made strong laws against illegal mining.
• Time passed, and I took time off from work and traveled far and wide in India, making friends all along. I traveled in space, learning the Geography. I traveled in time, learning the History. I met people from everywhere, but focused on the commonalities, instead of harping on the differences. Instead of worrying about different languages, I found Sanskrit is the common mother of all languages. I quickly learnt it up to make my communication skills pan-India. 
• As the years passed, the government (elected by me), regularly maintained and upgraded the highways and railroads. Communications were on, 24/7/365. Telecommunications reached the far corners of the country.
• Then I heard, the north-eastern region has been crushed by the intruding ambition of a massive country in the background. We reinforced that region, set up industries and hydro-electric projects there, thereby including the inhabitants of the disturbed area into the mainstream. Soon, the area became self-sufficient and began to contribute to the economy.
• Then the news arrived that scamsters (among the politicians behind the masks of  leaders) have created unwritten loopholes in the government machinery, and leaking out the wealth of the national treasury. I got less share of the national wealth to enjoy, and I was not Okay with it. I joined my fellow-men in nabbing the greedy and corrupt : my representatives in the law-making body created strong rules to crush all corruption in its infancy. All the looted wealth was repatriated to India from the distant Europe. All the corrupt politicians were stripped of their Indian Citizenship and deported.
• One day a fire broke out in the neighbouring town, destroying all public property. The alert fire services rushed to the spot with help and compensation. All  over the country, all cities/towns/factories/hospitals/schools/shopping centres were fortified against any emergency (fire/flood/earthquake/tsunami).We decided that every single human being is a precious human resource, and we cannot afford to lose any of them.
• One summer, when I was relaxing after the Rabi crop harvest, intruders from the nearby country broke open my North-Western borders, smashing the border cities, killing my fellow-men. They planned to plunder the land, capture all the wealth, and kill all the Indians ruthlessly. But, we had already armed ourselves; and thus counter-attacked, overpowered them, foiled their attempt, gave them a crushing defeat, and decimated their power.

After living in this beautiful country till a ripe old age, I finally went to meet God.  In all humility, I requested him to tell me what my next duty was. He smiled and said,"Very soon I will send you back there, in a different body, with a different name, to discharge the Duties of Life; so that the country continues to be beautiful, for ever, till Eternity".