Excerpt from Dreams Of One Country
This blog is the closing paragraphs of Dreams Of One Country, the novel written by my wife Jagjit and me. The excerpt is mainly a speech by Nalini, the daughter of Priya Jha who, some thirty years earlier, had inspired a great youth campaign to lead India's ascent to the world's elite developed nations.
'Friends, today we are taking the first step on the highway to the country
my mother dreamt of. The way will be long. The way will be hard. But when our
hearts join no mountain can stop us. From today Ek Desh youth will
go from the snows of the north to the seas of Kanyakumari. And they will tell the
people we are one. One family!
One Bharat! One family of Bharatvaasis!’
She turned to look for a
moment at Priya’s portrait before concluding: ‘Yes! One country! One people!’
‘Ek Desh! Ek Desh!’ echoed
the audience.
‘Jai Hind!’ Nalini’s
voice pitched higher: ‘Jai Hind!’
The response rose: ‘Jai Hind!’
Tides of ‘Ek Desh zindabad!’ swept through the expanse of
people and finally ebbed away.
She said softly: ‘Ab chalo. Let us begin our journey. We
must build a great nation.’
Everyone stood. The applause went wild. Overwhelmed, certain that a new
page of one of the few meaningful causes in the world had been written, Norman hugged Davinder
and the rest of the family.
‘My little one is no less than her mother,’ said Radheshyam. The proud
grandfather’s eyes streamed freely.
‘Yes. Same nobility,’ whispered Norman.
Then he knew what was coming. He clasped his hands together tightly and could
not breathe. He felt it was blowing
cold, cold...a squall from his forever winter. Norman shivered to the bone, missing Priya intensely.
*
Ek Desh breathed hope across a
land anaesthetized by centuries of uncaring and injustice. A bewildered people
- over a billion strong - awakened to dream of Priya Jha’s One Country. They dreamt of a gentler land, where people
come together for the good of all. But that
was just a dawning. Ahead
lay the war to find a nation’s soul. A quiet, vast and unique war. Its battles
would be fought in the heart of every Indian.'
***
(Readers ideas on the above topic are welcome!)
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https://www.amazon.com/Dreams-
Dreams of One Country by Ms. Jagjit Daniel (Amazon Kindle: e-Novel: Set in tumultuous times, a story of dreams and hope, of a great youth campaign that inspires the people, launching India's ascent to
join the world's most progressive nations....lighting a highway for all
developing countries!
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Click below to check out Dreams of One Country
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