India Poised

India Poised: a video featuring Amitabh Bachchan. Here’s the transcript.

There are two Indias in this country. One India is straining at the leash, eager to spring forth and live up to all the adjectives that the world has been recently showering upon us.

The other India is the leash.

One India says “Give me a chance, and I’ll prove myself.”

The other India says “Prove yourself first, and maybe then, you’ll have a chance.”

One India lives in the optimism of our hearts.

The other India lurks in the scepticism of our minds.

One India wants.

The other India hopes.

One India leads.

The other India follows.

These conversions are on the rise. With each passing day, more and more people from the other India are coming over to this side. And quietly, while the world is not looking, a pulsating, dynamic India is emerging.

An India whose faith in success is far greater than its fear of failure.

An India that no longer boycotts foreign-made goods, but buys out the companies that makes them instead.

History, they say, is a bad motorist. It rarely ever signals its intentions when it’s taking a turn.

This is that rarely ever moment. History is turning a page.

For over half a century, our nation has sprung, stumbled, run, fallen, rolled over, got up and dusted ourself, and cantered, sometimes lurched on.

But now, in our sixtieth year as a free nation, the ride has brought us to the edge of time’s great precipice.

And one India, a tiny little voice at the back of the head, is looking down at the bottom of the ravine, and hesitating. The other India is looking up at the sky and saying, “It’s time to fly.”