what's wrong with the world?

So, I've got an axe to grind. So, I'm upset. So, you don't know me, so you don't care. Well, I don't either. But I've got a point to make it, and make it I will.
Like Black Eyed Peas sang out... What's wrong with the world, yo?
I ask the same thing.
I'm torn about whether my homeland is dearer to me now that I'm away from it, or am I better off that I have the option of never having to return. The options make me angry. It's my homeland. The angst of not wanting to belong apart, I have a right to feel for my own country, my own earth, my own people.
Instead, I find myself increasingly repulsed by what I see and what I read. I'm quick to jump to conclusions but surely, my countrymen have more sanity and better judgment than that.
Apparently not. Let me illustrate.
The Gujarat BJP mock-staged the hanging of Mohammed Afzal, the prime accussed in the Parliament attack in December 2001. A team of lawyers beats up the stage Afzal, as a crowd cheered on. So, it's a plea for a prompt hanging for a controversial figure. Wrong. It's a gambit in a political battle. What till yesterday was an issue of justice, has today become a tool to gather public sentiment against a presidential candidate. Please note, that Afzal will probably never hear of this, neither will a voice be raised against the concievable violation of Afzal's fundamental rights. Instead, people gathered and cheered to watch the 'drama'. Please also note that none of us actually vote in a presidential election. In fact, the presidential election has traditionally been a fairly low key affair. It's good proof that nothing is incorruptible by the Indian political process.
We have an exploding population. The HIV virus is slowly but steadily starting to reach dangerous levels. So, what then I ask you is the best method of dealing with the problem. History has taught us education, awareness and promoting use of contraceptives helps. Obviously, our politicians slept through that class (and several others am sure).
Karnataka has banned sex ed in schools. The rather appropriate-ly named Horatti has decided that it would be against the interest of the students to learn about condoms, semen and vaginas.
Instead, he's decided that they should learn all about lathes, drills and exercise drills.
Another case in point. Hindustan Latex discovered that use of condoms was becoming boring for users. So, to spice things up a bit, it introduced a condom with a vibrator. Of course the people in the Madhya Pradesh administration, believe in having sex solely for procreation and not pleasure. As a result, there were vehement protests across the state from the administration to withdraw the product. A letter reached the PMO as well, claiming that the condom was a sex toy and hence, illegal.
Why should a group of individuals decide what I do in my bedroom? It's like telling me that I can't use a toothbrush with a vibrating function because India has a long tradition of using 'datun'. I know it's a stretch, but you get my point.
These protests happen while women get raped, while the politicians still pocket handsome amounts of kickbacks, while an entire chawl still crowds around a single tap, hoping, praying, it gives them water.
I know I'm not the only one upset. But why should we continue to even tolerate this.
I know what those of you'll sitting in India are thinking: "It's easy for you to say"
It's not really. While I was in India, I had two options. To get into the train, go to office, eat, sleep, drink (a LOT!), etc. or to get involved in what was happening around me, to be a voice challenging what I thought was wrong. I would like to think I did a good mixture of both. Today, I don't have a choice. All I can do is ask my self, what can I do? What can I say, write or contribute to that will make a difference.
How do I feed the kids on the street who don't have food for days, who're probably exploited regardless of how much money they can mooch off people.
How do I assuage the anger, the frustration of the cop who just won't take your FIR seriously, because he's got a kid to put through school and he can't do it on 5000 rupees a month.
How do I reassure a witness that he shouldn't fear the mafia and that his testimony will help bring justice when I know he'll probably be dead before he reaches the witness stand.
How do I convince a mob of people that religion is a divide that political leaders created so they'll never have to think of a winning strategy ever again.
I don't have a single answer. I don't think I ever will.
I do know my kids will never know hunger. They'll never know what it's like to be poor. I know they'll know right from wrong. I know they'll understand what it is to be secular.
What I don't know is whether I'll be ever able to tell them how proud I am of being Indian, what it is to be Indian.
I want to feed them the same rice my mother fed me. I want them to feel the same breeze I felt on my face on my first train ride on the footboard.
I just don't know if they'll be able to.