If I were the prime minister of India

On 13^th june 2010 when I rewind about 15 yrs of my life I remember getting up to a cloudy, wet weather , drizzles of rain that had come from the crack of my window, wet my bed making it cooler than usual . Reasons to stay in bed longer but I also remember mom pulling me out of my bed to get ready to go to school... my first day after a two month long vacation.

“ WHAT THE …..? when did the vacations end ? I had just warmed up for it. I should have been informed …!! “ But sadly, I had to trot to my school removing my frustrations on the puddles that came on the way … I walked as slowly as possible thinking the watchman shuts the school gate saying “sorry kid u are late . Come on time tom”. Never worked.

In my school days I was a pretty average student . Frankly if someone called me “Average” it was an exaggeration … Average was as good as intelligent or genius to me.

Just to give a you an idea of my Average school life

My mathematics marks were equal to average marks achieved by the boys sitting in front of me and behind me .

Physics marks were directly proportional to the distance of my seat from the supervisor of the examination.

Had I studied chemistry I guess I would have been in jail or worse killed by the US for making weapons of mass destruction, accidentally.

Biology had worst effects on my religious knowledge in which we had to sacrifice cockroaches and dissect frogs .. I couldn’t let go off my religion, I sacrificed bio.

My knowledge of history is really good , I do remember when India got its freedom ,15^th august 1947 ,and yes the father of the nation is Mahatma Gandhi and err ..err.. isn’t it ok to know what more than half the nation just precisely knows? Nothing more , nothing less .

In one of the geography unit tests I remember coloring the whole UP when we were told to mark new delhi.. should I say anything more ..?

This leaves me with 3 subjects, Hindi, Marathi and English. Staying in Mumbai I was a champ at hindi and Marathi , well I had grown up hearing a language which was kind of mix of both so I somehow managed to pass without much help from others.

One subject if u ask me that I liked the most was English. Not because it was easy or something but because it had comprehensions where answers were already in the above passages. Copy from top rather than from neighbors… legal, ethical.

It also was very exciting to me as I thought this subject did give me ‘My Space’ to write what I wanted to, it had questions that did ask me my opinions about the passages and the characters of comprehensions, on how I thought the passage should have ended . I was nt bound by what a text book had to offer, my mental diagram was not restricted to a shapeless amoeba or a headless hydra.

The ‘Rachael’ from the passage could be fat ,slim , tall, dark fair ,anything.. she was the ‘Rachael of my thoughts, my imagination .. She was my Rachael .

It also offered a lot of room for imagination when we had to write essays … wow… It was like a 30 min get away from the silent , scared classroom where students were wary, afraid and tired..

Essays were a place where I could ignite a story. Where autobiography was not of a pen or a Broken chair… where I was THE PEN , I was THE BROKEN CHAIR. I Remember writing many such essays …from ‘My Favorite Sport’ , to ‘My favorite Cartoon Character’, ‘A trip to Aquarium’ or ‘My teacher’. Amongst these topics there were a few topics that did leave a mark . A mark that asked a lot of questions and the answers to which I am still trying to find till date. Here are some ..

Two hours at railway station.. Simple topic .

Q : Why Two hours .

Ans : The train is late … Its Indian Railways. It is never on time. Not then , not now . Never .

Were they preparing us with the fact that Indian trains are never on time ? Who ever invented the topic was so aware that we are Indians and the topic is a hit even after a 100 yrs. Carry on children.. go royally after it . .

Another topic says My favorite leader “ Mahatma Gandhi “ : Guys …U need to ask us if he is our favorite leader . We have been ,since childhood programmed that whenever we talk about a leader , the first name that rings the bell is Mr. Gandhi. He was good , no doubt but not necessarily he is my favorite.

But the point is, Does it also indicate that in last 60 years after him and his contemporaries India stopped producing good leaders. .. That I let u guys answer after 60 years of his death… so this topic is a Super hit too.. Gandhiji will continue to be our favorite leader till we again fall under the rule of a foreign colony and then someone whose name is not Gandhi helps us get freedom from them… Hats off Mr.Gandhi – the immortal !!!

One of the topics tht was my most favorite topic and still is , is : If I were the Prime Minister of India.

Q: Why should a kid who is 10 yr old think about being a prime minister?

Q: Why Prime minister , why not a president ? isn’t president above prime minister ?? Oh, he is just a titular head .. means just appointed because we have to have a president . Why ?? Because The US has a president and the UK has a president and we need someone to give fake smiles and shake hands with the presidents of other countries when they meet each other. He doesn’t do much work anyways . I suppose even the president doesn’t know his/her duties and responsibilities. Atleast that’s what is evident in the current scenario.

Q: What if I wrote ,what I wanted to do if I were a prime minister ?? Will I be able to do what I want to after writing it ?

Q: Did our ex/current Prime Ministers write this essay when the when they were kids. ?? if yes

Are they implementing what they wrote ?? It must be funny if the wrote the current Indian script.

Q: Did the person whose brain-child this topic was , know that we will be facing worthless and toothless prime ministers who work on a remote ??

These and a few more topics have really been flirting with my mind for years.. Funny , ironic but quite far-sighted topics I must say…

To sum up , our favorite leader will continue to be Mr. Gandhi , our trains will still be late, we would still be writing essays on ‘An hour at government Office , ‘An evening wasted in a traffic jam and ‘When the city faced power cut” for generations to come. Some Classics !!

P.S. : Innocent thoughts penned down by a 10 yr old will help our ministers to know what the future of this nation wants and thinks . I request … please read it before we choose to make him our prime minister .