The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

-Robert Frost

This has always been one of my favourite poems. Especially the last 3 lines, they have been etched in my memory ever since I came across this poem for the first time.
Its so true that each and everyone of us comes across stages in life when we have to make huge decisions, decisions that might change our lives forever. And most of us, unlike the poet, dare not to choose a path less travelled. I hope I wont end up repenting for not having made a difference to my life when I had a chance to.

Mere Bharatiya Mahan ??

'Mera Bharat Mahan' we proudly proclaim only until we set our foot on Uncle Sam's land. The Land of Opportunities beckons us with open arms and slowly but surely our love for India melts and probably vanishes in its embrace.

Every month hundreds of Indians like myself travel to the United States to amass wealth or to pursue a career or to do both. The beautiful cars, the roads, the buildings, the way of life and the standard of living entices us and our lifestyle undergoes a sea of change. Pizzas and burgers replace chapattis and rice as the staple diet. The collection of clothing from Fashion Street or National Market makes way for a new range of branded clothes and shoes. The style of clothing now represents a way of 'revealing' or expressing our newly discovered freedom. We also start to notice the influence of the American accent in the way we speak English. The usage of words like 'kewl','yup','nope','dude' etc is more common. Not a single day goes by without a comparison between the ways of life in America and India. Everything from the quality of milk we drink, to the colour of the eggs we eat, to the cars we drive, to the roads we drive on, to the vegetables we buy and to the house we live in has to be compared with the same in India. This country has so much to offer that everything back home becomes pale and inferior in comparison. In the course of time we get so accustomed to this standard of living that the plans of returning home seem far and distant.

What disturbs me the most about many of us Indians is the way we treat our own country when we are no longer residing in it. We tend to look down upon everything our country has to offer. Resting on our laurels we pass comments on the direction in which India is heading instead of doing something about it. We ridicule our infrastructure , our governments, and our people for what they are as if we were never a part of them. Frankly our opinion is immaterial. India is a great country and it will continue to prosper regardless of our presence. Come on!! Nobody is forcing us to defend the borders and become a martyr, the least we could do as Indians is to show some respect for our motherland.