The growth of India over the next fifty years will mirror the growth that took place in North America over the past 200 years. An evocative book that captures this story is the Pulitzer Prize winning effort of Daniel J. Boorstin’s The Americans: The Democratic Experience.  The author traces the creation of myriad institutions in North America as it grew from a former colony of the British to the pre-eminent economic and social model of the last century. This story’s own context is starkly different from India. But the analogy of the story is helpful : institutions were created in a new country which had a different geographic, demographic, intellectual and emotional setting from Europe. The USA had a strong European intellectual influence to start with, but the reason it succeeded is because it adapted that mindset to suit its own environment. They created a national university system, which moved learning beyond the Ivy League colleges, they perfected an insurance network, they created a food distribution system, they invented an aerospace industry, where starting from PanAm onwards aviation brought the death of distance. India will have to create similar institutions and systems over the next 50 years. Boorstein also eloquently demonstrates that the process of building a nation is a two step forward and a one step back process. The important message though is that some of the seemingly ‘impossible’ problems India faces today were faced by other countries as they grew from a young nation to a mature democracy. When we are faced with those difficulties, we also need to take a long- term view and keep that positive frame of reference that comes across in Boorstin’s work.

However, as North America became a successful industrial nation powered by oil, Model T cars and the threads of Amtrak that started criss-crossing its vast land mass, Boorstin warned of the dangers in blindly following existing, ‘successful’ models and the ‘momentum’ they generate. He said: ‘The sense of momentum which overwhelmed Presidents burdened ordinary citizens. ….. the future of American civilization could not fail to be determined by the mass and velocity of enterprises already in being… Fewer decisions of social policy seemed to be Whether-or-Not as more became decisions of How-Fast-and-When.’

As globalization has made the world a smaller place, a number of emerging countries like India run the risk of not asking Whether-or-Not questions. As India starts accelerating forward in its own ‘democratic experience’, we have to be careful of not heading down the How-Fast-And-When tunnel. At the start of its own journey, North America borrowed its intellectual heritage from Europe, but moulded it to the reality of North America, and we face a similar challenge at this juncture.

What we must adopt from the West is the spirit of scientific inquiry. But the age of networks, electrons, biotechnology, agri-business and relevance of intangible assets must warn us against creating mechanical institutions. As this is the beginning of our own development journey, we can use and connect with the Indian mind which has always respected knowledge and respects service.

Recent environmental awareness in the developed world is asking fundamental questions of the industrial civilizations of Europe and North America. Commentators have declared that the ‘demand for carbon-free power is about to become the most disruptive force since the Internet’, and a new world-view is being called upon to stem the damage that may already have been caused by the industrial sprint of the past 200 years. In this context, China is already well down the how-fast-and-when tunnel by building large factories, industrial plants and carbon intensive industries. India, till recently seemingly a laggard in industrialization, still has an opportunity to ask whether-or-not questions, and perhaps put a healing balm on the Industrial damage already underway.

An even more important lesson from the ‘democratic experience’ is the dynamics of democracy. The real fruits of democracy come when citizens ‘work’ their democracy, when they engage to build institutions. More than the Roosevelts and the Kennedys, it was the cattle rancher and the railroad pioneer who built USA. Modern India and its race forward will be shaped not only in  state capitals but also by the bottom up entrepreneurial innovations taking place across the nation. India’s progress will take place not only in the halls of  Parliament, but by the various mini institutions that we visited during our travels. India will be shaped by the creation of a Tilonia, by the courage of a Kiran Bedi, by the experiences of the submarine commander in Vizag and by the innovative factory manager at  Bajaj Auto.

As countries like India start to take off, they will take off on the wings of passion of its young citizens. A country starts to prosper when the people – alongside the government – start building. While we have a number of seemingly insurmountable problems, we have a future that is powered by the momentum of a growing country. Gerd Behrens drew a contrast with the attitude in more developed economies, ‘The West resembles a marriage of convenience, while other growing civilizations are passionate affairs’.  

More so for those pouring to fill the glass of India.

‘Is the glass half empty or half full? Depends whether you are pouring or drinking’ said Bill Cosby’s mother in a conversation that reminds me of India in this 60^th anniversary year.

On the fiftieth anniversary of India’s independence, in 1997 we organised a national adventure – the Azad Bharat Rail Yatra. Two hundred young Indians participated in that Yatra and have since remained in close contact over the years. This is an extended family forged by the memories of twenty-two days of exhilarating, non-stop travel on a special train that covered 7,000 kilometers of India. We keep in touch through a web-based forum, and at heart; we simply remain attached to India. As I write this, these participants are planning another Yatra – the Jagriti Yatra with the theme of awakening entrepreneurship. 

Our aim for the Yatra was to discover the other India, an India beyond the English language. To me, this India was in the smaller towns where I had grown up as the son of an army officer; it was in my town of birth, Gorakhpur, and in Barpar, our ancestral village in the Deoria district of eastern Uttar Pradesh. During our travels we found more than one India. But the central theme that dominated the journey was India integrating with its own genius. By doing so will we build a country that is different and therefore able to compete and prosper in the new world. Only if we understand who we are and are comfortable with it, will we live lives of integrity. Participants discovered this first hand. They celebrated the integrity they saw amongst those they met during our travels.

There are some events and experiences that change the course of your life forever. The Azad Bharat Rail Yatra in 1997 was one such moving event for me. Luckily I maintained a day-to-day diary of the activities and emotions that I experienced during this 23 day journey. Reading this diary 10 years later fills me with nostalgia. India is just one country but travelling its length and breadth in a short period of time, at a young age, absorbing the sights and smells of the countries varied destinations, brought along with it mixed emotions of respect, concern, awe and most of all deep pride.

An article appeared in the Times of India in Nov 1997 that said "If you are a worker or a leader, if you have a cultural and adventurous bent of mind, if you have a civic sense and a feeling of community, if you are a good communicator then we are looking for you". As soon as I had read the article, I knew they were looking for me. I knew that this is exactly the kind of experience that I was looking for. Without any hesitation I rushed in my application to be a participant on the 1997 Yatra and before I knew it I was preparing for a journey of a lifetime!

As I go through the pages of my diary and see the photographs I can mentally relive the Yatra that began on Christmas Eve in Mumbai in 1997. I clearly remember the excitement and high energy levels as 150 youngsters from around the world assembled from around the country for the welcome orientation in Mumbai. I remember meeting Shashank, brain parent of the program, for the first time. I remember watching the Bharat-Bala Productions Vande Mataram Video on a giant screen. I had goose bumps as A.R. Rahman’s Vande Mataram echoed through the IIT-Powai auditorium and I remember eagerly waiting our departure to discover India, little realizing that I was going to discover myself as in the process.

The train became our home away from home. Food as provided on board via a special pantry car, special bath-rooms had been created with the added luxury of hot baths. Any compartment resembled an average teenager’s room- Jackets, dupattas, books, cassettes strewn all over, posters heralding messages of population control, environment protection and such adorning the walls and an atmosphere inside the train that was always warm and vibrant, with chatter and laughter among strangers who had now become family.  A chair car attached to the train became our assembly hall. A typical day on the train started at 6AM with the wake-up call of ‘Maa Tujhe Salaam’ on the train’s intercom, shower, breakfast and morning discussion before we arrived at our destination for the day.

From understanding the Gandhian way of life at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to staring at the Taj Mahal in Agra, from then the solitude of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, to rural Tilonia and then the disciplined life of Ralegaon Siddhi, from the serenity of Bodh Gaya to the story of Tatanagar, from the sound of Hari Prasad Chaurasia’s flute to the graceful movements of Manipuri dancers, the days went by quickly. New people& new experiences& local food& and a whole new world every day! Visiting the Eastern Naval command in Vizag and then the National Defense Academy in Pune, I can’t begin to summarize the impact and overwhelming fascination that each experience brought with it.  

As Kiran Bedi rightly said during the journey " Decide if you want to become an asset or a liability to your nation. If a majority of us become assets, then we are on our way to becoming a great nation". I believe that the yatra was made for me. 10 years later the bonds are still strong. The friends I made on the Yatra continue to be my closest ones over time and distance. It is like we have been bound forever by a spiritual experience, like we understand each other without having to say much. The Yatra has been more than just a train journey to me, it has shaped my thoughts, defined my purpose and directed the course for my future.

As the core team works hard towards repeating history and making the Yatra of 2007 (Jagriti Yatra) a reality, I wanted to pause and remember all the reasons why we are so committed to making the train journey happen again. In Kennedy’s words "Ask not what your nation can do for you, but ask what you can do for your nation".  Vande Mataram.