The few nonagenarians and centenarians, who had jumped into the action famously called India’s freedom struggle, surviving to this day with memories of the trials and tribulations that they had to face, often at gunpoint of the land’s Police force taking orders from the white bosses to show no mercy for the agitating unarmed patriots of the day while resorting to cane charge and also pulling the gun trigger in terror, can be heard on some occasions expressing their disenchantment at the goings on in the nation as faithfully reported by the media. They had dreams of spending the remaining years of their life without fear of suppression at the hands of the ruling class of the colonialists. Unarguably, most of the activists, if not all of them, are known to have never entertained any desire for power and pelf once the land came under self-rule. Their only wish was for good Samaritans at the helm to take the nation on a path of progress and glory.

The daily prayers of our ancestors, expressed in a Shanti Mantra Kaale varshathu parjanyaha… only sought timely rains, earth to have lush green cover, freedom from disturbances in the land and law-abiding citizens to live without fear. They were never worse off for their prayers in all humility except on occasions of wars and pestilence, thanks to the misdemeanour of human beings as recorded in the land’s long history.

Keeping aside the prayers for plentiful rains in a time-honoured seasonal recurrence year on year, the other points in the prayers compel some introspection by the citizens at large and the land’s administration in particular. There is some substance in the belief that if the elements of nature are not bestowed respect and gratitude, the land’s people are bound to be taught bitter lessons amounting to not responding positively to the aforementioned prayer of the earthlings. Frankly, the currently emerging mass of influential members of the nation’s population represent anything other than sajjans (good Samaritans).

Flipping through the front as well as the inside pages of dailies of all hues and even cursorily reading the reports therein 365 days of the year (barring holidays), one cannot but infer that the nation has slipped into the hands of rowdies and rapists, overwhelming the administration. A new prayer to save the rundown republic from their clutches is to be chanted by the citizenry.