Similarities!
August 15th came and went, and this year, it got me thinking... why is it so important to us, does it mean anything..have things changed at all since 1947?? The Gora Baabus have been replaced by a set of Indian Saahukars, the poor still remain exploited and the law is still not fair. A few wads thrust in the hands of the men in power, and hitherto difficult doors open faster than saying "open sesame". It's easy to see gloom in everything-have we not made progress? have not won wars? have we not built dams? have we not spent millions and billions of rupees, to blast rockets into space? have we not opened the doors to huge corporations and created new jobs? (ahem, ahem!!)?
have we not tripled the number of cars and home owners, is that not a sign of more wealth? have we not provided good roads? have we not gained recognition for Bollywood? haven't we told the world that we are more than a bunch of snake charmers and cowherds? we have produced a nobel laureate, and some of the big blue- chip companies are headed by Indians.
Yes, the answer is a resounding yes!! But, is that all we must measure ourselves by.. the number of cell phones a family has?? or the number of sarees the lady in the family has, or if you believe in the metrosexual man( whatever that may be!! ), the number of branded shirts the man in the family has!!! most of you, naah all of you reading this blog are among the elitest of elite among indians, who have education.. if we measured ourselves on this yardstick, then god save us... if we measured ourselves on a scale of corruption, even god can't save us- when there is talk of corruption in the army- you know something is big time wrong. Here are those people laying down their lives, (albeit for meaningless pursuits by the country), and their superiors take a nice bribe to jeopardize already risky situations. what about public health? and what about the lives of those millions of farmers who commit suicides every year- do we even care? some people in the country have to walk a few tens of miles, to fill water, while the others among us spend Rs 10 to drink 300 ml of the water stolen from them- does not ring a bell?? am talking about the bloody soft-drinks! on the one hand- a company is accused of employing people in inhuman conditions- and on the otherit sponsors our cricket team paying them millions of rupees, and makes a rough profit of nearly 400% on each product it makes-selling it to...yes, the rest of us!!!
i agree..things can't change all of a sudden..but is it so difficult to atleast be aware of what's going on??? to take a stand?? to be more sympathetic to the one's less luckier than us? there was a furore when the government mooted the reservation law- but does anyone even know that the right to information law was passed, and is being changed dramatically to suit the needs of the Govt?
Ho hum, this can go on.... Bottom line.. look around you, be more sensitive and be more understanding of the needs of those less endowed than you......
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On a related note, no no..not anymore serious stuff :)...I was wandering in Downtown Chicago, and kept staring at all Indian faces, or faces that were even remotely Indian. I concentrated on the men!! No no, don't get me wrong. What is common among all of us?? Do we look common? Well, for the trained eye, there are serious facial differences, color differences, behavioural differences. Obviously we speak different languages and eat different food.
The thing that looked most common to most Indian males in the age group 23-30 was .......
.......... the BAG!!! Indian men love wearing school/college bags. No briefcases, no patent leather luggage for them.. :))) And, I felt I fit right in with us Indians :)
have we not tripled the number of cars and home owners, is that not a sign of more wealth? have we not provided good roads? have we not gained recognition for Bollywood? haven't we told the world that we are more than a bunch of snake charmers and cowherds? we have produced a nobel laureate, and some of the big blue- chip companies are headed by Indians.
Yes, the answer is a resounding yes!! But, is that all we must measure ourselves by.. the number of cell phones a family has?? or the number of sarees the lady in the family has, or if you believe in the metrosexual man( whatever that may be!! ), the number of branded shirts the man in the family has!!! most of you, naah all of you reading this blog are among the elitest of elite among indians, who have education.. if we measured ourselves on this yardstick, then god save us... if we measured ourselves on a scale of corruption, even god can't save us- when there is talk of corruption in the army- you know something is big time wrong. Here are those people laying down their lives, (albeit for meaningless pursuits by the country), and their superiors take a nice bribe to jeopardize already risky situations. what about public health? and what about the lives of those millions of farmers who commit suicides every year- do we even care? some people in the country have to walk a few tens of miles, to fill water, while the others among us spend Rs 10 to drink 300 ml of the water stolen from them- does not ring a bell?? am talking about the bloody soft-drinks! on the one hand- a company is accused of employing people in inhuman conditions- and on the otherit sponsors our cricket team paying them millions of rupees, and makes a rough profit of nearly 400% on each product it makes-selling it to...yes, the rest of us!!!
i agree..things can't change all of a sudden..but is it so difficult to atleast be aware of what's going on??? to take a stand?? to be more sympathetic to the one's less luckier than us? there was a furore when the government mooted the reservation law- but does anyone even know that the right to information law was passed, and is being changed dramatically to suit the needs of the Govt?
Ho hum, this can go on.... Bottom line.. look around you, be more sensitive and be more understanding of the needs of those less endowed than you......
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a related note, no no..not anymore serious stuff :)...I was wandering in Downtown Chicago, and kept staring at all Indian faces, or faces that were even remotely Indian. I concentrated on the men!! No no, don't get me wrong. What is common among all of us?? Do we look common? Well, for the trained eye, there are serious facial differences, color differences, behavioural differences. Obviously we speak different languages and eat different food.
The thing that looked most common to most Indian males in the age group 23-30 was .......
.......... the BAG!!! Indian men love wearing school/college bags. No briefcases, no patent leather luggage for them.. :))) And, I felt I fit right in with us Indians :)
posted by Hitchcock at 10:54 PM
9 Comments:
Wish I could write a comment on the latest post... (or any posts, for that matter) from work; either way... well-written post :) The Yindian-dudes-lauuuu-bagsu cracked me up :D
btw... you mentioned a bag and forgot to mention ME? How dare you! ;) You should've said I still carry my bag to almost every place I go to (including the workplace) even though it's been almost a decade since we left school :D
-moose
hmmmmmmm.........that almost sounded like (no! infact more honest) manmohan singh's speech, this independence day!!! :DDDDD
awlright, i guess, i deserve kicks for not being serious enuf..........but then its not even a week since i'm back from india and such "serious stuff" (as u put it)have been the order of the day / point of discussion all thro' my stay .......all thro the stay i was absorbing it all, while news channels, newspapers, papa, uncle, friends kept spewing it out...................as u said, it can go on and on...public health, drinking water, elementary education, corruption, population, infrastructure,civic sense,exploitation...........there's no reprieve!!!!!
Yeah,lots going on...no reprieve like Swati says..
My Dad always tells me, "Don't look at the people who have more than you, always look at those who are less fortunate, and be thankful to God."
@moi- thanks for the typical comment :))
@jas- if only parents taught us "look at people who are less fortunate and help them out"!!!!!!! i grew up to be thankful to God, till i realized what am I getting by being thankful!!! anyway... it's all in the mind-set.. indifference has set in, it will take us a Swami Vivekananda, or a MG to awaken and enthuse us. Till they come, everyone will have to do his small bits and pieces.
a "typical" comment for a "typical" post! boy!did i take an offence to that "typical" comment of urs :DDDDDD
:)))))) moi...u are hopeless!! :)
i recently watched a documentary about increasing consumerism in china and there was a chilling interview with this guy who had "made it" and decided to have 2 kids, as against the official 1 kid policy, since he thinks this is important to improve the quality of people in china. made me wonder if we are headed towards phazing out the "low quality" folks systematically through trade agreements, govt policies justifying it with the ever useful survival of the fittest argument.
anita
i gotta put this comment here....even if its a late comment by blogging stds! ....did u notice the predilection for the "patent-black-colored-Targus-bag" amongst us the desi student crowd while u were at USF!!!!!! :)
its a fool-proof way to recognize one from miles away!!!
@didi- abbo..can we stop poisoning my mind abt needless crap?? :D
@moi- well..i never had it :D :D :D.. but then i had other typical desi student traits back then... go to engg. school :))...come back late...ard 12.. eat at taco bell :)) and play cricket!!
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