Before This Year Ends, There Is One Conversation We Keep Avoiding
Published on 30 December 2025 | Category: Personal
This is my last article of the year. Not a recap. Not a prediction. Not a lesson learned post. This is the one thing I believe deserves the highest priority before we move on and pretend everything is fine.
Somewhere along the way, we quietly accepted that "basic living in India comes with an unofficial subscription fee".
Not a bill you see clearly. A bill you slowly bleed into.
Want a normal glass of water without second guessing your health. You pay for a machine and then pay tax on top of it.
Want to breathe without your throat burning every winter. Another machine. Another tax. Fresh air becomes an indoor luxury.
Electricity that does not vanish during peak hours. You arrange your own backup. Because reliability is optional.
None of this is discussed loudly anymore. It is just assumed. Like traffic noise or dust on your shoes.
The same silent acceptance shows up in bigger places.
Education for your child becomes a financial planning exercise, not a public guarantee. Most families do not even consider government schools seriously. Not because they want status, but because they want safety, continuity, and outcomes.
Healthcare is where the illusion fully breaks.
A single medical emergency can undo years of savings. Hospital corridors have seen more financial breakdowns than recovery celebrations. People survive illnesses and then spend years paying for that survival.
And then there is food.
The most basic trust between a system and its people.
Adulteration stories do not shock us anymore. They just pass by like weather updates. Street food is not joy anymore. It is calculated risk. You eat and hope today is not the day something goes wrong.
Outside your home, the city feels like a daily obstacle course.
Walking is unsafe. Driving is chaotic. Rules exist mostly on paper. Accidents feel inevitable rather than exceptional.
When something does go wrong, accountability disappears into thin air.
No system failed. No one is responsible.
Only you were careless.
Try pointing this out and the conversation shifts instantly.
You are told to stop complaining. You are asked why you compare. You are reminded of worse places as if that should lower your expectations.
But here is what bothers me.
In sports, business, or technology, we never compare downward. We aim higher. We benchmark against the best. We celebrate ambition.
So why, when it comes to living standards, are we told to be grateful instead of demanding.
If we proudly say India is a global leader, then the questions that follow are not anti-national. They are logical.
Why do people with resources look outward for education and healthcare.
Why do successful individuals quietly move their families abroad.
Why does confidence in the system drop the moment people have a choice.
Loving your country does not mean defending everything blindly.
It means caring enough to ask uncomfortable questions. It means refusing to normalize broken basics.
As this year ends, these are the few things I want to carry forward.
Better roads are not a luxury.
Clean air is not entitlement.
Safe food is not privilege.
Reliable healthcare and education are not favors.
They are the foundation of dignity.
If this makes you uneasy, that is not a problem. That is a signal.
Do not ignore it.
Because if we keep postponing this conversation every year, we will keep paying for it quietly in every possible way.