Seven years ago – on the late afternoon of May 11th I was lying on my bed in my studio apartment in Jodhpur when I felt a slight tremor. Thinking that an earthquake might have hit I scrambled outside to enquire with my neighbors – everyone had felt that tremor but it did not feel like an earthquake. Not worrying too much about it I went back to sleep and that night I went back to my home town of Ajmer for a small vacation. It wasn’t until next day morning did I realize what kind of earthquake did that tremor signify because as we all know now and I got to know that morning when I read the screaming headlines that India had conducted a successful nuclear test. With Pokhran only 120 Miles away from Jodhpur – that tremor was from the nuclear explosion that had taken place.
When I went back to Jodhpur in a couple of days - I could feel some tangible effects of that test in weather. It was palpably hotter, less breezy and stiflingly humid. At 8 in the morning it used to feel as hot as 12. But I did not mind it at all because there were some intangible benefits going. Centuries after Ashoka started the long decline of Indian civilization in the aftermath of Kalinga war with his vow to denounce all war – India was ready to reclaim its power and not be ashamed about it. For all the talks about peace and ahimsa – it is a fact that history of mankind is filled with powerful prevailing over the weak in wars. Ashoka, by denouncing war made India a nation of weaklings who were ready to bend over and get their asses whipped by outsiders. What followed was a long string of outside marauders invading and looting this country with gay abandon. With a successful nuclear test and retaining the ability to develop a nuclear weapon we were finally regaining some of the last power and were letting the world know that even though we are a peace loving nation – we are capable of protecting ourselves.
I believe that the confidence gained through that nuclear test started a long string of other successes over the next few years of the BJP government including the enormous success in the IT sector. For the first time – we started hearing about India as a power to be reckoned with and not as a nation of 800 million poor people and a land of snake charmers and eastern mysticism.