What would you consider the greatest unifying factor in our country? With diversity every square mile, it’s difficult to pin point a particular trait that would represent India. However I would take this opportunity to bring out an ancient power that was hidden in the realms of time, a powerful entity whose full influence is dormant, yet whose affect tends to affect us all time and time again- the power of zero.
It is said that the Indians invented 0. The only reason I could think of it is we, as a civilization, had realized long before any other could that we are not perfect, in fact if we are not even a civilization that can be called stable. We change, we evolve, we adopt and discard rulers. Thus, we have been continuously involved in the nation building exercise. So how would we rank our stage in civilization? A 0 because we are always at the bedrock, we were never perfect and never will be and we keep on changing.
This contribution to mankind has been paradoxically adopted to represent stagnation. 0 is the state where change cease to exist and stability reign supreme. Although at the lowest ebb, it represents a resistance to change, something that most of us strive to achieve. 0 is the beginning of the end, it’s a full circle, a path without a start or a destination.
The funniest part about this piece of literature is that it was written to justify my lack of effort for an exam and to appreciate the reward I got for it.