Lions and lambs

An epochal victory, as the one Narendra Modi has won, is going to impact our lives in more ways than we can ever imagine; 50 years from now, middle-aged men and women will ask each other: "Where were you when Modi won the mandate to become India's prime minister?"

Being an unabashed optimist, I have to say that I am looking forward to the best. When Modi tweeted "Good days are here", I was one of those who believed he might be right.

First, of course, I am hoping that this resounding majority will give him the mandate to bring in change that is good and great for the country. Being a classic A-type personality, Modi will not be satisfied with just being prime minister - what he'll aim for is 'statesmanship'. He will wish to go down in history as the man who brought in India's 'Golden Age' .

I am hoping this will translate into the greater common good.

I am hoping that he does indeed put an end to the grinding poverty that has killed my country's spirit; I am hoping that millions of my countrymen are finally lifted out of their pitiful huts and shanties, and that no man goes to sleep again knowing he does not have the money to send his daughter to school, and no son watches his mother die because he doesn't have the money to take her to the hospital.

I am hoping for opportunity for all, I am hoping that every child receives a decent education and good medical care, that every entrepreneur with a dream gets the support and consideration he deserves, that every job seeker, regardless of caste, class or community, finds livelihood.

And I am not hoping for all this because I am a universal humanist and crave utopia; no sir, I am hoping for this because I feel that if perhaps there is opportunity and prosperity for all, then my nation's people will become magnanimous, generous-hearted, kind, courteous, more forgiving of others, more willing to listen and to understand other's woes.

I am hoping that with everyone knowing what it is to have a full belly and a good night's sleep, my country's people will turn to other, more life-enhancing pursuits: to the arts, to science, to spirituality and discovery.

I am hoping we will become a nation of scholars, poets, inventors and artists (and yes, great big businessmen who share their wealth with their workers).

I am hoping that once our nation experiences plenty, it will cease to be the prickly fractious bully in its neighbourhood.

I am hoping for a banishment of pettiness and with it, its stroppy elder cousin - envy. I am hoping that each is happy with his own and no one covets another's land, dream or business successes.

I am hoping that those scenes from Bollywood, dreamt up by men who'd lost the land of their birth, those scenes which show a Muslim and a Hindu arm in arm, singing songs of love and friendship actually transpire on the ground. I am hoping that people of all castes and religious persuasions and political affiliations realise the futility of it all - that the only difference between religion and political dogma is that the bearded wise men tend to wear glasses in the latter.

Yes, I am hoping that good days actually come, that there is an end to all religious and political squabbles and that prosperity and plenty once again flood this land; that brother embraces brother and that the lion shall lie down with the lamb.

Malavika Sangghvi is a Mumbai-based writer malavikasangghvi@hotmail.com