"OUR COUNTRY INDIA LOOKS DIRTY"[AGAINST]
HAL VIDYALAYA
TAHERA SAJJAD
A very warm and hearty good morning to all of you. Respected chairperson, honorable members of jury, my worthy opponents and my friends.
The Oxford dictionary gives the meaning for the word dirty as obscene, something covered with dust, dishonest, dishonorable, and unpleasant or disliked.
Friends, I ask you how many of these words would you choose to describe, our country, our motherland India ? What is then that has compelled my opponent to claim that all of my India , my entire country—looks dirty? Is it because of shacks lining the railway tracks with dirty faced, poverty-stricken men and women eking out a miserable living? Or is it because of the Dharavi slums of Mumbai, or leper colonies of Kolkata or the deplorable civic apathy in the cities or the vandalized and neglected historical monuments?
My worthy opponents will not miss a chance to say that floating dead bodies and carcasses pollute the holy river Ganga . The poor and simple have but one comfort- faith and if the faith dictates that the body of young and unmarried girl is to be floated, would you call it dirt or faith?
Ladies and Gentlemen, ours is a multicultural and multiethnic country and we cannot pass off cross-cultural beliefs high handedly-as-dirt. Our country may be ignorant “yes” but dirty ‘NO'-. I ask you which citizen of which country can say that his country looks filthy and hold his head high? Because of some –we cannot generalize- and say- that our entire nation looks dirty.
If the cities represent modern and hi-tech face of India , the rural masses represent the body, heart and soul of India . These include the tribal inhabited NE, Hills of HP, Sand dunes made colorful by the nomads in Rajasthan, the Sunderbans of Bengal, Andaman and Nikobar and of course our coastline. We just cannot concentrate only on the small segment of cities which is badly planned and make a sweeping statement that our entire India looks dirty. My country, my motherland does not look dirty.
Friends, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Each and every sight has its own hidden beauty—Garbage and waste are a part of living process but you cannot ignore the beauty of Himalayas just because of some landfills nor the leper colonies overshadow Sunderbans or the marvelous monuments of Kolkata. Will you still claim that our country looks dirty or unclean? My country, my motherland is beautiful, green, lush colourful, sandy, hilly, and musical but under no circumstances does it look dirty.
Thank You.