India of my dreams

Based overseas, I always wonder at the magnitude of promise that India holds to be the next superpower of the world. But somehow or the other, this tag always eludes India. "So near, yet so far" would be the best way to describe it. Seeing so many multinationals flocking to our shores, like bees to honey, over the past decade or so and with an economy worth $4.06 trillion, in terms of gross domestic product(GDP), India is not far behind US and China.With a projected economic growth of 7-8% in the current fiscal, India seems on track, but the huge population burden of 1.2 billion, combined with the ever increasing gap between the rich and the poor, surely suppresses all the growth.
On one hand, we have Anna Hazare, the modern day Mahatma Gandhi, who is fighting hard as a common man to weed out corruption from India, especially from the public sector. He is even prepared to lay down his life as he has shown over the years with his numerous hunger strikes (fast-unto-death) to achieve his goal. In the past few months, it was amazing to see the support Anna gathered amongst the community. Such was his charisma that even top Indian professionals based overseas were so moved by his efforts, that they came and joined hands.
But on the other hand ,we have people like KP Singh, the billionaire real estate tycoon of DLF, who is recently reported to have spent close to Rs 100 crores just to celebrate his 80th birthday. His birthday celebrations were spread over Udaipur, Gurgaon, Bombay and Delhi. Celebrity guests were flown in chartered flights from across the globe. The celebrity guest list included the Beckhams(David and Posh), ex-world number one tennis star Martina Navratilova, just to name a few. The guests were given iphones. The very sexy Columbian crooner, Shakira was apparently flown in for an hour long performance on Lake Pichola in Udaipur, all the way from Columbia. Shakira was reportedly paid a whooping Rs 18 crore for that one hour private performance. How bizarre, imagine this astronomical amount would have fed or housed thousands of homeless and foodless in India for a long time. This shallow and unashamed display of wealth is a disturbing trend. And he is not alone. How many times in the past have we seen it happen. Mukesh Ambani's US$ 2 billion home "Antilia" in Mumbai has 60 floors and a helipad on its top. One wonders how many thousands of homeless can find a shelter in this gigantic building. In a nation where almost 42% of people are living below the international poverty line, this luxurious and kingly style of living further increases the great divide between the rich and the poor. It also comes across as "rich not being empathetic to the poor". Otherwise, how can an individual live in a skyscraper in a city which houses some of the biggest slums in the world.
I think time has come for the very rich Indians to look around themselves and look down towards the millions of deprived and starved children with compassion and try to elevate their status using their wealth and power. Same applies to celebrities, film stars and politicians. Then only we can make a better India, which is prosperous, healthy and corruption-free. This will also ensure a more equitable and fairer society. We also need young leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, etc to be at the helm, as they are wealthy and not hungry for money, like so many of our modern day politicians. This will also stop the brain drain of Indians going abroad for better lifestyles and less corrupt societies and governments. I'm pretty sure that most of our non-resident Indian fraternity would love to stay and work in India, provided there is less corruption and red-tapism. And people are recognized in their work more often, paid according to their skills and qualifications and not based on their connections. This is my vision of a modern India that emerged free and independent from the British shackles more than six decades ago. It's also important that we stop hero worshipping our netas (politicians) an abhinetas (film stars) and sports stars. These things can be learned from western society, where there is very less hype around sports stars, actors, even the PM is not overhyped and he is subject to same laws as normal citizens. At the end of the day, they are all doing their jobs, like any other common citizen and are paid for that. The moment the masses stop building temples of celebrities and the media stops overhyping them, it will make a lot of difference.
I hope that my dream of a numero uno superpower named India will definitely come true in the near future. With a young and dynamic brigade of politicians all lined up and raring to go and social activists like Anna Hazare trying to project a new image of modern India, the destination seems even closer.