DEAR SANTA

Hello Santa,

Merry Christmas!!!!

Hope you are doing well, travelling around the world with a double or booster vaccination, masked and sanitizing?

Here, we are managing to live life along with the virus; it lurks around the corner all the time but we have slowly but surely learnt to accept it, making it a way of life. We don’t know how long this will continue or whether there will be another variant; but the human spirit and endeavor has triumphed.

You must be inundated with “wish lists” from children all around the world; maybe the list has grown longer as Covid has made many more children poorer and hungrier.

Grown-ups have no one really to send their wish-list to but here, you being kind-hearted and compassionate, we thought we will also take a chance and send you our wish-list. Take a look and if you can fulfill even half of it, it will change our world.

1: Can you make Corona and all its variants go away forever? (sounds like every child’s wish too?)

2: China needs to get off its high-horse; can you teach them a lesson and cure them of their exploitative attitude and land-grabbing greed?

3: Our roads, especially in Maharashtra looks like something of Mars landscape; can you make these roads smooth or maybe, better still, get the officers who build the roads to be less corrupt?

4: The Govt is waaaaaay off its disinvestment target; can you probably help them achieve it this fiscal; it needs a miracle and, in that department, you can most certainly help.

5: Maybe you have a wand or elves who can create jobs and help employ a huge work force of young Indians?

6: Can your miracle work on getting inflation under control – not just in India but across the world?

6: Well, GDP might not be something you can relate too; maybe you can work on a Happiness quotient and just spread seeds of happiness and joy; happier the people, greater is the country? GDP might not always be the best indicator, what say?

7: Do you think you will be able to resolve the semi-conductor chip supply crisis? Check na, whether you can get that resolved?

8: We know this sounds impossible but could you make the stock markets less volatile and head more towards the North than south; after all North is your favourite place, isn’t it?

9: Would it be possible for your elves to feed each and every child, ensuring that no child goes to bed hungry?

10: Would it be too much to ask of even you to clean-up the air pollution in India and help us all breathe good, clean air?

There is so much we need – increase tolerance, re-distribute wealth, clean water to drink…. We can go on and on.

As we said earlier, even if you manage to give us half of this, our lives will change. Please don’t say, “Ho, ho, ho…” and glide away into the sky…