This is what they want us to believe...
India will be the next superpower by 2020.
I keep on hearing this since 2000 and keep waiting for a sign of change.
Either India will make a quantum leap of faith on the midnight of 31st Dec 2019 or we will (and we can) statistically prove that it has done so already!
Or 3rd scenario, we will re-define what is a superpower altogether, like we keep redefining the poverty line.
But does this coveted tag really matter? Who cares if 5% Indians become so rich that the rest 95% less deserving labouring Indians (for them 5%) faint in amazement, or 25-30% Indians still go to sleep under the cozy blanket of stars without a bite of food in their stomach whole day?
[But, of course, we need the 5% Indians too.]
What I keep waiting for someone to tell me is- when do we become more civilised? Rich or poor aside, educated or illiterate, we Indians lack manners. We are collectively a very disrespectful and uncivilised society. Upset? Hard to believe? Just drive 10 kms on any road and count the number of people taking a piss on the roadside. Travel by a train in the morning and you will find people relieving their bowels on the railway tracks. Just try and find a person who is driving a vehicle and not honking unnecessarily, as if they died blowing the horn!
In my job, I have frequent European visitors. A very wise person in my organisation advised me to the following:
1. provide them the best taxi service from airport to hotel
2. provide the most comfortable, safe and clean hotel rooms
3. arrange for first A/C class in Shatabdi trains, but keep them from seeing the railway tracks on the platform
after all, during their visit, the foreign visitors will spend the most time in the above three facilities.
But I am most ashamed when I see that no matter what I do, I cannot make them feel comfortable in this strange country of mine - [In any sense, I do not wish to convey anything wrong about my country to you. I believe that whites, browns, blacks and yellows are all equal. Even though I may hate the whites for outsmarting the rest of the world, I believe in modern time, we are all at the same platform - more on this later]
My European friends keep on cleaning their shoes with a tissue to remove the dirt when they walk on the roads. When it rains, I do not allow them to walk the sewage infested roads.
They all joke that in India, cars can drive without engines but not without horns!
They ask me -
> Why Indians spit everywhere? ..happened in Delhi Metro, a fellow had spit on the platform where we were standing, someone had thrown a Bisleri bottle on the metro track too.
> Why Indians drive wrong-way on the road?
> Why Indians are so much in hurry on the road, when they really have nothing to do when they reach the destination - believe me, people think that Indians are intelligent (thanks to our ancestors) but lazy.
Did it ring a bell?
It feels horrible when I try to look at ourselves from their point of view. India can never be the super-power we wish it to be, unless we educate our children morally and teach them discipline. Showing-off to the society about the breed of the dog and the fees of the child will not take us anywhere. We should understand that our education system is seriously lacking somewhere!
If we don't realise that, we might become affluent high-headed bast**ds by 2020. Take the example of nouveau riche crowd of Gurgaon and Ghaziabad-Noida area who have acquired wealth and SUVs by selling ancestral land but not acquired the urban lifestyle. DO you want your children to become like that? If you have not acted already on this, I say its time to be afraid, very very afraid!
India will be the next superpower by 2020.
I keep on hearing this since 2000 and keep waiting for a sign of change.
Either India will make a quantum leap of faith on the midnight of 31st Dec 2019 or we will (and we can) statistically prove that it has done so already!
Or 3rd scenario, we will re-define what is a superpower altogether, like we keep redefining the poverty line.
But does this coveted tag really matter? Who cares if 5% Indians become so rich that the rest 95% less deserving labouring Indians (for them 5%) faint in amazement, or 25-30% Indians still go to sleep under the cozy blanket of stars without a bite of food in their stomach whole day?
[But, of course, we need the 5% Indians too.]
What I keep waiting for someone to tell me is- when do we become more civilised? Rich or poor aside, educated or illiterate, we Indians lack manners. We are collectively a very disrespectful and uncivilised society. Upset? Hard to believe? Just drive 10 kms on any road and count the number of people taking a piss on the roadside. Travel by a train in the morning and you will find people relieving their bowels on the railway tracks. Just try and find a person who is driving a vehicle and not honking unnecessarily, as if they died blowing the horn!
In my job, I have frequent European visitors. A very wise person in my organisation advised me to the following:
1. provide them the best taxi service from airport to hotel
2. provide the most comfortable, safe and clean hotel rooms
3. arrange for first A/C class in Shatabdi trains, but keep them from seeing the railway tracks on the platform
after all, during their visit, the foreign visitors will spend the most time in the above three facilities.
But I am most ashamed when I see that no matter what I do, I cannot make them feel comfortable in this strange country of mine - [In any sense, I do not wish to convey anything wrong about my country to you. I believe that whites, browns, blacks and yellows are all equal. Even though I may hate the whites for outsmarting the rest of the world, I believe in modern time, we are all at the same platform - more on this later]
My European friends keep on cleaning their shoes with a tissue to remove the dirt when they walk on the roads. When it rains, I do not allow them to walk the sewage infested roads.
They all joke that in India, cars can drive without engines but not without horns!
They ask me -
> Why Indians spit everywhere? ..happened in Delhi Metro, a fellow had spit on the platform where we were standing, someone had thrown a Bisleri bottle on the metro track too.
> Why Indians drive wrong-way on the road?
> Why Indians are so much in hurry on the road, when they really have nothing to do when they reach the destination - believe me, people think that Indians are intelligent (thanks to our ancestors) but lazy.
Did it ring a bell?
It feels horrible when I try to look at ourselves from their point of view. India can never be the super-power we wish it to be, unless we educate our children morally and teach them discipline. Showing-off to the society about the breed of the dog and the fees of the child will not take us anywhere. We should understand that our education system is seriously lacking somewhere!
If we don't realise that, we might become affluent high-headed bast**ds by 2020. Take the example of nouveau riche crowd of Gurgaon and Ghaziabad-Noida area who have acquired wealth and SUVs by selling ancestral land but not acquired the urban lifestyle. DO you want your children to become like that? If you have not acted already on this, I say its time to be afraid, very very afraid!
