"Where the mind is without fear & the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world hasn't been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection !
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."
By Guru RabindraNath Tagore
(Ever since childhood this poem of RabindraNath Tagore has been synonmous to supreme level of perfection for me.Its incredible to believe even 100 years after he penned down his awesome vision for India in his book Gitanjali which fetched him Nobel Prize,it is still a utopian dream to realize...may be because it is way too ambitious for common people like us to realize it or may be any attempt to realize this dream would actually push one to come out of his/her interia of letting the things go on the way they our going on.......:) or may be one is accustomed to quoting his words every now & then & that's all.However 100 years later i have made an attempt to attenuate the scope of his dream so that it becomes realistic for us to achieve & here it is:)
"Where the water is free from microbes !
& air is dustfree!
Where eyes could treasure green pastures
As far as they can see
Where eatables aren’t adulterated
& duplicate medicines aren’t sold
Where traffic is regulated
& Highway means "smooth roads"
Where cities aren’t overcrowded
& Universal distribution of resources is ensured
Where “quality education” replaces “reservation”
& impoverished aren’t ignored
O God ! Bless my country with intellectual mothers
As with their intellect, a strong foundation will be made
& When their wisdom will flow in my countrymen’s veins !
Everyday in heaven ,my country will awake "
By Takshila Vidushi
