I guess everyone is super excited about the new year! We’re at the beginning of a new decade. There’s much to be hopeful for. I mean, yes, the nation ended up protesting through the last month of the year — but hey, we’ve got an awakened youth and that’s something to be thankful for. One can’t help but laugh at the fact that we’re in 2020 and still fighting because of religion and caste. Does anyone really remember why we fought for our independence almost a century ago?

I am not a child of the Raj, I only studied about it. I don’t think my parents were either. But even if it seems like I am over simplifying things — are we really any different from when the British ruled India? I grew up listening to a lot of promises about this year. Abdul Kalam’s amazing vision for 2020… heck, I actually believed we’d have flying card by now! But here we are fighting and in a situation where my generation needs to take to the streets every now and then.

So, have we really had any development at all?

I mean yes, we have a gazillion ways to communicate now. We have food apps that produce every kind of food at the tap of a button and we are now finding love and potential mates online — but we seem to be becoming less human with each passing year. It’s hilarious that we’re in the age of the iPhone11 and in parts of India we’re still killing people for drinking water they shouldn’t have supposedly touched.

But my generation sees hope. Amid all this negativity, we’re here and we’re demanding for our rights and screaming that we will take back the nation from hatred. That’s something to be happy about, no? I’m not too sure the generation that passed had this kind of zeal. Everyone seemed too scared. Today, nobody seems to care. The news is erupting with stories of young Indians fighting for their future. And that seems to be enough for me to look forward to 2020. So what if Kalam’s vision is nowhere around the corner? There is much yet left to be hopeful about.

Happy 2020!