No, not in India!

It is generally said that some odd things can happen only in India. But there are certain good things which would not happen in India for at least another century. Let me tell you what I am talking about. Other day I got a mail. So what's the big deal about it. Not really, if it was any regular mail that anyone gets. It is actually a claim form. It says, I quote " You may be a member of the Class if you paid dues for a monthly membership at 24 Hour Fitness". Last year (2009) for about 6 months I went to this fitness club called 24 HR fitness. It was all fine but later I cancelled my membership thinking that I would soon be leaving to India (of course, it never happened). But as a company policy, they collect first month and last month dues during the membership registration. Another smart thing this company does is, we need to give them our account information during the registration as they want to deduct the amount every month due, automatically (no provision to pay in cash on due date). By the time I cancelled my membership, they have already deducted the money. Now they have 2 months of my money for no good reason.

It so happened that some guy who is concerned about all this, filed a law suit against these guys and as a general trend this company denied of any wrong doing or going against law ( there argument is that members signed a agreement when we joined, which means we have agreed to this arrangement.)

The point is, this particular practice of 24 HR fitness is against the California state law and now the company in the picture is liable to this situation. They are for a out of court settlement now and even before judge comes with a ruling against or for, they have to pay all the members ( who come under the rules of this class) either a 20 US $ fee or give a 3 month all club membership access! Isn't it kool.

Now let me tell you guys my intention of writing this whole story. Picture the same scenario in India. Now it is not about criticizing India like every second Indian does. To put things in perspective, it would be a miracle for something like this to ever happen in our country. Let alone this, can we be sure to get justice in a lifetime for something like this even when filed on our own. When there is a clear evidence also justice is denied on our land where Babudom and money rule the roost. I was talking about this with my friend who also happened to be in US currently. I said, really hope something like this happens in India at least in a century time. He said he hopes so too. He also felt, but for it to happen before that time ( I know am being ignorant about how things work in India) , population is a primary hurdle. Then I said, look at China. It is far ahead of India even with a bigger population than India. He countered saying China is a bad example, it is a country where freedom has no meaning ( a simple Google search cannot be done freely there).

Agreed. My point is not that. We are the biggest success story of democracy and the largest existing democracy in the world. Traditionally we have done a stupendous job even with so many internal problems and never went to any form of government post independence. And the secular , socialist and republic principles are shining diamonds in our parliamentary system. But where are we in this world. Are we No. 1, 2, 3...10, at least 20. Now do not tell me we are part of G20. Merely being part of G20 does not make us great. We are there because of our size and geographic significance ( or probably the super power US wanted us in there). What is the relation between G20 and law suit? It is a package. You grow become a developed country with making sure you do all such things right to be finally there and truly called a developed nation.

When are we going to be there? Guess, no body has answer to this yet. This is a concern of yet another Indian living on uncle Sam's green bucks and feeling everything is bad about India (except that we have a wonderful family and friends back home). Phir bhi mera bharat mahan!