in India
so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?
We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we
refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a
self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but
our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.
I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day
after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas
had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish
gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a
granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory
details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried
among other news.
In
sickness, terrorism, crime.. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are
we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want
foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.
Why this obsession with
everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with
self-reliance? I was in
giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked
her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed
. For her, you and I will have to build this developed
is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.
YOU say that
our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline is the
worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say. What do
YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to
Give him a name - 'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the
airport and you are at your International best. In
butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground
links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road
(equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come
back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in
a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity In
you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during
Ramadan, in
. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.
YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10
pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to
someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington
and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I
am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't
chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches
in
.
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of
Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in
talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in
other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and
cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an
involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the
same here in
In an interview, the famous
Ex-municipal commissioner of
Mr. Tinaikar, had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the
streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And
then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for
inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go
down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?
In
every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in
Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose
a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything
for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to
clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor
are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the
bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to
learn the proper use of bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air
to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop
pilfering at the least opportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the
public.
When it comes to burning social
issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud
drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse?
'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone
forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?
What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our
neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the
government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making
a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families
into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait
for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep
of his hand or we leave the country and run away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to
praise their system. When
insecure we run to
. When
experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the
Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian
government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of
feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.
Dear Indians, The article is
highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks
one's conscience too . I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow
Americans to relate to Indians ..
'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR
ARE TODAY'
Lets do what
needs from us.
Jai Hind
