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The India that could be

Capítulo 1: THE BEGINNING

Vedant Agrawal, 23 years old, a recently graduated civil engineering Student. The above-mentioned C.V. Like description is my current standing in the big bad job-hunting World.

I have just finished my Engineering and will soon be in the race to find a stable job with good colleagues, a company with good growth potential and a not so strict somewhat human boss.

DISCLAIMER - The above-mentioned things are a myth for a first-time job hunter and if you or anyone else in your vicinity have met such unicorns kindly contact me at Vedantagarwal 77@gahil.com or can reach me directly at *******986.

My life up till now has been that of a normal Indian teenager with just a small twist, my parents passed away in a car accident when I was one and I have grown up under the loving care of my grandfather ever since.

I do not remember much of my parents and therefore had no sense of great attachment to them or their memories. My grandfather on the other hand was everything I knew of my family even before the time I began to understand the meaning of the term.

My grandfather was born in the era just when we were about to achieve independence but were not there yet. This meant that while he did not face the full brunt of oppression of the British Empire but enough for it to be a vivid memory for a five-year-old kid.

The worst part he recalled and, made sure to remind me always was that it was not the restrictions and oppression of the Britishers but rather the divide we had created among ourselves on the basis of different castes, especially the last Mughal reign, which made a rather clean divide in Hindus and Muslims, thereby removing all the great done by their father and forefathers such as Akbar and Shah Jahan.

He was barely five when we achieved our independence and though he did not understand very much but was aware that something monumental was happening when he began to notice the absence of British guards patrolling the streets and the usually submissive faces of the nearby uncle's being happy and them sitting proudly in front of their shops, on the streets, chatting happily and the rather marked absence of their scolding's of the kids that were playing in the middle of the streets.

In between the ending of the British government and the formation of our own government, the laws were very relaxed. Even after independence, for close to five years anyone with money could practically be a king of his own in a certain area and the law enforcement would look the other way for a bit of a commission.

Fortunately, my great grandfather was rich enough after the independence that he became a landlord with a substantial amount of land and in turn my grandfather grew up like a small little lord in the village. Having a fair amount of wealth gave my grandfather a sense of freedom in his pursuit of hobbies such that he picked up hunting from a young age.

Before independence we were not so rich so there was no chance that my ancestors would have a royal hobby like hunting with guns. Our riches came from the sudden selling of lands by the British officers before leaving at minimal rates trying to make a quick buck. My great grandfather was the owner of the local cloth shop and even if he was not rich, he led a comfortable life in the village. Due to being the owner of one of the unique businesses he had a good relationship with the local authorities.

When it was coming near to the independence, he got a head up well before the actual announcement and hence he made some deals and transferred a lot of land for very cheap by bribing the official and making him transfer the property under his personal name. After the independence the government took away all the properties that were under the British government but left the private ones alone.

Once it was officially cleared with the Indian government, he became one of the richest landowners in and around the village. Many were surprised by the sudden change of his status but they could only watch in envy. My grandfather himself never had to face such changes.

Guns at that time were a luxury for normal people of the newly independent India and hence when we became rich my great grandfather made sure to get plenty of different ones from his buddies that were leaving our country. Over the years after independence my great grandfather invited a gun's expert to live on our property and teach not only him but also his son all about guns and hunting.

The times then were so simple that my grandfather only had a nominal school time and instead was more interested in following the old hunter into learning all about hunting and guns down to the T. Rest of his time was spent following around his father in their farms where his father also tried to teach him more about agriculture.

As the generation passed and my India progressed towards modernization, agriculture also increased but the riches that came along with significantly decreased. My grandfather grew up rich, my father grew up comfortable and I grew up as a normal middle class. My father married in his early twenties and moved to the neighbouring city to pursue his business opportunities while my grandfather stayed in the village.

My parents' sudden death soon after my birth was a great shock to my grandfather but he had little time to wallow as he had to take care of the infant me.