Que Sera Sera...

"Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be...The future is not ours to see...Que sera sera...What will be will be."

As I recollect the lines of this song most of us have learnt as children, I as a citizen wonder what the future of India will be. There was difficulty finding jobs when I passed out of college, but there were jobs. The economy was on the upswing and America was nowhere close to giving us an indication that recession would disbalance the economic stability in the world.  Post 2008, recession saw the worst in America, UK and across the oceans in India too. Thankfully India not being a free market economy saved the developing country from future doom and finally got it’s chance to prove to be smarter than the USA, a first world country. 

Things picked up eventually, people began to face reality and settle for jobs they could get. Everything seemed to suggest in some way that times might be difficult compared what it was prior to 2008, yet things would look up with time. But now as I see it 5 years later, there are jobs but the possibility of people loosing jobs is also high. This is disillusioning when I hear of people loosing jobs in the media industry too as a cost cutting exercise. But is that the only disillusioning part? 

There is a the Central Government too that plays a role. There are scams galore that UPA 2’s tenure  is laced with. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee once mentioned to me about being unhappy at the way the Parliament functions. There are more disruptions in the sessions than there are discussions and political dissidence overshadows the overall benefit of the masses, be it FDI in retail or the Food Security Bill. With general elections less than a year away and Narendra Modi likely to be projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate by the BJP, the battle to gain mileage by the ruling party and the Opposition is heating up with the plot changing by the day. 

While the aam aadmi goes about his daily work, in someway the awareness of the existing political scenario sets in which will translate into votes for the party that is elected in 2014. The Congress led UPA 2 Government has left the masses pessimistic of economic progress as rushes of all the scams cross the mind. Scams that involve crores of hard earned tax payer’s money. On the other hand Narendra Modi’s name resonates a note of positivity after the transformation of Gujarat. The 2002 Godhra riots are forgotten by some, but not by all. 

So while some dicard Modi’s credibility and ability to lead the country, some hope for better financial stability for the country as a whole and inturn reap the benefit for themselves and their families. Call Modi’s visits to various cities and speeches as a good marketing strategy, but what would you term the result of a prosperous Gujarat that was once just a vision? An example that speaks for Modi’s achievement? Or would you choose not to use this as a benchmark to decide his potential to rule the country efficiently? Going by the theory that a known devil is better than an unknown devil, would the Congress do justice to people's expectations given a 3rd chance to rule at the Centre with some strategies fine tuned?

While 2014 will decide the path India and it’s economy traverses, it is the anxiety that will give some people sleepless nights. While for the rest who worry less, what will be, will be. Whatever it may be, may optimism not be a redundant word in the dictionary, for a country that comprises of scores of employable youth waiting to take forward the mantle. While for me, I would ride on dreams of a resurgent Indian economy.