We'll prevail

Flew out of Ranchi airport with Maa and Papa to visit the Ajanta/Ellora caves. We landed in Hyderabad airport in South India, and I instantly felt like I was in a different world – much richer, cleaner, and calmer compared to Jharkhand, Bihar, or North India in general.

Where Raj comes from, Jharkhand, is the poorest area in India, actually one of the poorest places on the entire planet. Poverty shows up in every trash-covered street, pond, and river. Though the land is fertile and its underground filled with rare minerals, coals, and metals, it was completely exploited and looted by British colonizers. Not only did the British extract the last drop of resources from the land, but most importantly, they completely destroyed the old societal order and traditions. 

For example, by forcing traditional artisans, who produced the most refined, widespread, and high-revenue materials, handicrafts, and clothing for ancient worlds, into farming indigo, opium, tobacco, jute, and cotton that the British could profit from, hundreds, even thousands, of years of traditional industries were entirely destroyed. Rich artisans became landless laborers. On top of that, they were forced to pay unimaginably high taxes; their lives plummeted from those of wealthy businessmen into extreme poverty. Hence, even after nearly 80 years of the ending of British colonial rule, areas in India like Jharkhand, Bihar, and the North in general remain in heartbreaking chaos and poverty.

It will take time for the people of the land to bounce back, and changes are coming at a slow pace. It's especially slow for areas where old traditions and societal orders were uprooted. One of the most difficult things to achieve is to restore the glory in people's minds – glory that comes from the connection to the past and will rejuvenate the will to fight for a better future. Hope and pride were what was taken away, and why, even after 80 years, people couldn't walk out of the misery.

But we survived, didn't we? No matter how much was looted, destroyed, and suppressed, we survived. Because love – love for the land and love for the family – will forever win over greed and cruelty. ❤️