Telangana or No Telangana. Everythings gonna be alright!

How long can you keep drawing lines? 

This post has a small build up which tries to form a connection with some past and recent events that we may all have experienced, so a nice and easy paced reading will help.

Example #1: The Indian Caste System

Just 25 years ago, my father would have lost his sanity if he heard that his son was seeing a woman who did not happen to be from the same caste as us(him?) It would have resulted in a warp hole from hell opening up accidentally, right in the middle of our dining table.

"Son, if you marry out of our caste, people back at our village will outcast us. We will be not be invited to any family functions. That is my world. Where will I go? Please don't ever let me down on that front", I remember daddy clearly warning me at the end of a conversation, which is best not had with a father.

FYI, I went on to marry an amazing woman who is not from my (father's?) caste. You see, 25 years can change a planet. My dad is only a mere human. I am told I belong to a certain caste. But honestly, I don't give a barn. Best thing is, these days, even daddy doesn't. Give a barn I mean. I have been around fairly and I do not remember anyone ever asking me which caste I belonged to. Or vice versa. Maybe the old world necessitated a work based/ profession based/ geography based/ whims based caste system. Which is absolutely fine with me. It is also absolutely fine with all my friends and colleagues.

In fact, it is not just the caste system. These days, even religious boundaries seem to be coming down everywhere. "Are you a Hindu?" "Are you a Muslim?" A lot of people out there don't give a barn. And the number of such liberated people are growing everyday to make this world a nice and happy barn. End of Example #1.

Example #2: The contemporary/ new age business

Even to this day, the elderly and the concerned people will rush to buy antacid when you tell them that you have started a new business with three other partners.

"Partners? That is a bad decision you have made my boy. Success in business is impossible when you have a partner. You are destined to be duped and then, doomed. Start something but do it alone!", a close relative had once warned me on a very serious note. I was young and rebellious but I still stopped short of telling him that running a 200 Sq ft grocery store which also sells under arm deodorant was not exactly my business plan. I needed to have various experts on board to make my plan work.

While me and my partners are still struggling to break even, my orthodox relative's son has gone on to build a neat business for himself with, one more large please, 6 other like minded young individuals. And that is not all. This young entrepreneur's father (yeah, same guy who told me the riding solo thing) is now his greatest fan. Isn't life so forgiving sometimes? :)

"Young man. Find the right partners for your business and make the pie big. If you try to do it alone, you will never succeed. I tell you", I distantly remember him telling me at a family dinner where I last met him, glass of whiskey in hand and all. End of Example #2.

Example #3: The Great Wall of Berlin

This example is an example of something that does not exist anymore, despite being built as the most definite and permanent wall in the world ever. The guys who built it must be turning in their graves right now. End of Example #3.

Inference: Telangana or No Telangana. Everything is going to be alright.

Example #1, #2 and #3 are events that show us that every time we have used the word impossible for something, that something has inevitably turned into reality. We have built walls since time immemorial. Only to break them down again. To be built somewhere else. And through such repeated acts of dividing, splitting, wall erecting, war mongering etc, a lot of us have been freed from the shackles of caste, creed, religion, customs and even nations. Forget Indian states, there are so many global citizens today who don't fancy, but truly believe that they are citizens of the world first. And you know what? The world accepts such liberated people with their arms wide open.

Change is expensive. Oh yes. It is bloody expensive. I have lived through days when my family was not sure about what the next meal would be. Rather, if the next meal would happen at all that day. My daughters will probably never know how that feels. They are a step ahead of me in the overall evolution time line of the human race.

So don't worry about people who want their own Telangana state. They are people like my father and the dudes who built the Berlin Wall. Their children will undo what they are doing. Don't worry about the suicide vest wearing, gun toting terrorist who wants to become a nation. You see, he is blinded by hunger. His grandson will probably make the most touching presentation at the UN someday about world peace and the need to abolish all kinds of physical boundaries.

You can take that thought ahead from here. I think the post has relayed to you, just what it was designed to relay. That everything is headed in the right direction. And that someday, everything is going to be just fine.

Oh, what about the pain and unrest and all, you are wondering? That is important. That is the way nature works. Even losing your virginity hurts. But, did the knowledge of that pain really stop anyone?

Cheers!

- Rahul Mishra

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