Projects

An appeal from a common
man of India

Every day, while going through the English daily, my heart burns from inside and appeals to me of 'what have I done for my nation?'. Every day when I hear stories about corruption from my inner circle, my consciousness bites me from within and the same question haunts me again, 'have I done my bit?'. I look out of the office window with my daily cup of coffee and see a group of teenagers smoking, I want to go to them and ask them to stop smoking and make them aware of the ill effects of smoking. I observe the thought and let it go; get back to my seat only to open next item on the ‘to-do list’ for the day.

We have a vision in our eyes to see our nation as one of the most prospering one, but this vision halts at the corruption story aired on the local channel and you refrain to think on similar lines again. We have all come across the above situations at some point of time in our life, but the good thoughts which need to be turned into action get bogged down by the daily chores and as other items take priority on them. We want to contribute to the society, but don’t know where to start. We want to do our bit, and we want our voice to be heard but don’t know whom to approach. As a democratic country, we have so many common men who would like to raise their voice for a better India, but take a step back, just like I did. The next question that arises in the mind is that 'Why did I back out?'. Somewhere I feel that though we had the dreams and the vision, there was no  direction to it.

We saw a pool of people coming together when India won the world cup, when Anna Hazare started the protest against corruption. These were momentary and the youth of the nation were on roads during the celebration and the revolt. These 2 incidents are enough to prove that people do think about their nation, people do have the soft corner for their country but most of the time it needs a reason like the world cup or a movement to shake it up. What happens a little later is very interesting. The buzz settles down quietly, the feeling sinks in slowly and we all are back to our daily life. The movement which held the country together for a few hours or few days is history now.

Do we really need such incidences to come together?

Volunteer for a Better India (VBI) has the answers. This movement appeals to each and every one of us to dedicate just 1 hour on daily basis to Volunteer for a Better India.  The movement which is backed by many NGO’s and which stands on principles of humanity, equanimity, compassion, commitment, expressions, which marches ahead with a vision of a better India. A movement which can make the dreams - yours and mine, turn into a reality. Come, let’s all unite for this noble cause. For this is a chance to show how much we love our country in a different way. Enough of swaying of flags on the cricket field, enough of joining agitations.

It’s time to act. Let’s all put our actions together for our country, for our India.

- Written by Pranav Desai

 If you would like to volunteer and bring about a change in your place, join in to Volunteer for a Better India.

If you like the article and are inspired to Volunteer for a Better India, you may write to webteam.india@artofliving.org.