Nobody talks better about what India has achieved than Palki Sharma Upadhayay does. Having said that, I would like to bring my experience to what India has achieved through this post.
I see a lot of people sitting here in india and trashing what has been achieved. But when one travels out of the country, that is when one realizes the things we take for granted here.
Here are some examples.
I applied for the renewal of my son's UK Passport on April 21st of this year. It is now August 15th and the passport has neither been picked up for renewal by HMPO (Her Majesty's Passport Office) in London nor are they communicating to us or allowing us to talk to them. He has already lost one semester as a result of this delay. Indian passports are renewed within 5 days whereas tatkal ensures a next day renewal. Communication is prompt electronically.
Travel out and electronic currency is almost non-existent. We suffered quite a bit in the US. Two days ago I walked up to a coconut seller in India and didn't have change. All I had to do is grab the QR Code on my mobile and pay him. Electronic transactions have exploded through UPI in India and has reached the poorest people.
When one tries to get groceries delivered home in the US from the nearest store, it is pretty much impossible. Sitting at home in India, everything is available at the click of a button no matter how small the grocery store is.
Signals are melting in the UK due to heat. Have you heard of that in India? Remember it gets hotter here every year. People make fun of our flooded cities and heat waves. Have you see the sufferings of New York, parts of Virginia and Las Vegas in the floods? Did you see how much many parts of the US and Europe are suffering from lack of water? Yet this was being held against us.
When we went grocery shopping in the US, we would carry our own bags. I have not seen a single person do that over there and the criminal use of plastic bags in the US grocery stores. Look at cities like Chennai where plastic bags have slowly been phased out and people have been encouraged to bring their own bags. We are ahead of the curve. Yet when Trudeau announced that they were phasing out plastic, people acted as if he was doing something new. In India, our citizens have been doing this across the country and recycling of plastic as well as vegetable waste is rife. I have hardly see this in the western world.
Let us talk about vaccination for Covid. My son in the US has a vaccination card with an illegibly scrawled name on it. Lose it and you are finished. Compare that with one of the largest campaigns in the world and the Cowin App, one realizes the difference. Any time I want, I can download our certificate here in India. Think of the help city corporations and our services have given us during the pandemic. The Chennai corporation checked on affected people every day and ensured that all help (including groceries) was delivered to them at their doorstep. People in the western world are astonished when I tell them this. Nothing even close to this happened over there.
Our neighbour's daughter is in New Zealand. Do you know how they pay their utiility bills? They wait for the bill to come by post and then send in a cheque. When was the last time many of you did that?
Look at the Indian Railways, our space scientists in ISRO, Our armed forces, the burgeoning highways, the opportunities we have as other countries around us and in the western world gasp to say afloat and you can see the enormity of what this country of ours has achieved in these 75 years. We have fought our way forward inch by inch, yard by yard. India's image and importance have grown over the last few years. We are no longer taken lightly in the Internationa l arena.
Look at the complexity of our country that Palki brings out. I can guarantee you that no one other country in the world has the kind of diversity we have and yet achieved so much. It is our duty as citizens to call out all the nameless men and women who have brought us here and many more who are still working tirelessly behind the scenes to keep the wheels turning as countries around us collapse.
Does this mean we are perfect? Hell, No. We are not by any means. Can we learn from other countries? Yes, we definitely can and that is a post for another day.
But for today on the 75th anniversary of our Independence from the British, I am filled with pride when I see how much we have achieved as a nation. This is the time when we take a stand to become role models for the generations to follow, to actually practice what we preach, to let petty quarrels go and to stand up for our country when someone says we are behind. This is a day when we show our gratitude to the men and women of the Indian Armed forces, the Police, the government, our scientists, the teaching community, the secret services, our sportspersons, the healthcare community, agricultural community, hygiene workers, the corporate as well as public sectors, the people working at the grassroot level and more.
We, the people, are the nation. 
