Surgical Strike

The date was 3^rd May, 2016. Infosys Toastmasters Bangalore was conducting its 563^rd Meeting at Infy Amphitheatre. The entire audience were awakening for the theme ‘the Mother ­­­­earth’; I was reawakening for a new role in my life. ­My mom and in-laws were also arriving. I was sitting on the steel chair, in the fifth floor of that modern age temple. My hands were crossed, pondering simultaneously, the past, present and the future. Around 3 pm, the doors opened and a man in white overcoat appeared and told me, “Congratulations Mithilesh! You have been blessed with a baby girl. Go and see her.” I rushed to her, saw her smiling while sleeping in an electric cradle. I became immobile for a moment. No thoughts were forthcoming. The big responsibility of parenting had endowed upon me and my wife.

Mr. Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and dear guests,

Good evening!

I was happy at the end of the day as I also started contributing to my country like most of my fellow citizens. The baby was a result of my constant effort towards adding one more Indian citizen and my surgical strike happened nine months ago, yielded a wonderful result in my baby girl.

My daughter is the 60^th member of a family clan which was started more or less 125 years ago. When I went to my native village last Diwali, I discovered my family growth started way back in 1860 AD. A man named Jagannath, my great great grandfather moved to the banks of river Gandak in search of a fertile land. He not only found fertile lands, but also got abundant fertility for future surgical strikes. Those surgical strikes started growing, way faster than his crops did. Now after the 3^rd and 4^th generation, Mr. Jagannath’s family has 60 living members. Here is his family tree, where I am at the 4^th generation and my daughter is the 60^th member.  

Family tree …

Ladies and gentlemen, today I am a happy father. So are my other family members. My family which started as a 2 members team, has now grown 3000% in just 125 years.

Isn’t it impressive?

No credits for any celebration here as the effects of population explosion in my family is detrimental. The current condition of my village is that you can hardly find a roadside property even if you have money. Sometimes the land cost is way much higher than what you pay in Bangalore. The similar high demands have been created for resources like water and providing quality education to the kids. The overpopulation has even resulted in chaotic property disputes in my family. Friends, this is just my family tree. I am sure most of you would have come from similar family trees, sustaining big bang family explosion and surgical strikes.

India as a nation considers every citizen as her family. So, whatever happens in a family is bound to impact the fortunes or misfortunes of the country at large. She has to face the challenge of population explosion in order to feed its entire 1.3 billion citizens and facilitate avenues for the growth.

So, What’s the solution then! The hard truth is that there is no viable solution to minimize the ‘Surgical Strikes’.

I am a Toastmaster and my speech is not ‘Prime Minister’s Man ki Baat’!

However, we can work around the problem!

India’s massive population has been proved to be a boon for its economic growth. We overcame global slowdown like subprime crisis, Brexit - due to our massive population. In fact, this century is being cited as Asia’s century only due to the large young population of India. Many multinational companies have already set shops in India banking on the huge populace and efficient human capital. India is in fact the first go-to market for any Company’s growth. Precisely, the young human capital of India is driving the world economy today.

So to conclude, instead of whining about ‘surgical strikes’ let’s celebrate the benefits a large family brings to the nation.

Well, Speech apart, I am hopeful for my second child in a few months from now. Over to Mr. Toastmaster!