India Poised

India Poised (www.indiapoised.com) is one of the best India-centric campaigns in recent times. From the house of my ex-employer Times of India, it has come at the onset of the 60th year of being a free nation. Times is celebrating 2007 as the "Year of India". Truly it will be.

The ads have received extensive visibility in all of Times channels including TOI and even Times Now TV. With the booming voice of Amitabh Bachchan reciting it, the anthem is very inpsiring. Here's the text:

India v/s India

There are two Indias in this country.

One India is straining at the leash, eager to spring forthand live up to all the adjectives that the world has been showering recently upon us.

The other India is the leash.

One India says, give me a chance and I 'll prove myself. The other India says, prove yourself first and maybe then you'll have a chance.

One India lives in the optimism of our hearts. The other India lurks in the skepticism of our minds.

One India wants. The other India hopes.

One India leads. The other India follows.

But conversions are on the rise. With each passing day more and more people from the other India have been coming over to this side.

And quietly, while the world is not looking, a pulsating, dynamic new India is emerging.

An India whose faith in success is far greater than its fear of failure.

An India that no longer boycotts foreign-made goods but buys out the companies that make them instead.

History, they say, is a bad motorist. It rarely ever signals its intentions when it is taking a turn.

This is that rarely-ever moment. History is turning a page.

For more than half a century, our nation has sprung, stumbled, run, fallen, rolled over, got up, dusted herself and cantered, sometimes lurched on.

But today, as we begin our 60th year as a free nation, the ride has brought us to the edge of time's great precipice.

And one India - a tiny little voice at the back of the head - is looking down at the bottom of the ravine and hesitating.

The other India is looking up at the sky and saying , it's time to fly.