The fact that we Indians know exactly what is bothering our country and why even after 67 years of Independence we are still a third world developing country and not a developed one.
I can go on with this list, but I guess you understand my point. The fact precisely augments my aforementioned point. We are great talkers, orators, thinkers, not much of doers. The number of hours we spent messing about each other's opinions could be spent on much more productive activities. But, as always, we are the rooting tooting generation of "dudes" and "gals" who will sneer at our darker skinned friend, refuse to sit beside a Muslim guy, undress every woman with our eyes, get an engineering degree, get a luxury job, frown upon every other person with a lower salary as if they were your servant, and when everything is settled, pack a cold beer, switch on the AC and tweet about our filthy roads; and this is the percentage which actually couldn't go abroad to look for a "better lifestyle".
Love your girlfriend, don't blame the marriage culture of India, go marry her.
Hate the filthy roads, rather than going to the gym get a group and fix it on weekends.
Don't wanna be an engineer, go tell your parents, throw as big a tantrum as you threw for that iPod.
Wanna help farmers, stop patronizing your local supermarket because it has AC.
Ain't contended with some politician saying rape isn't a crime, go stand in elections, or at least vote.
Stop blaming things on our leaders and politicians. Look at America, a nation discovered by an accident, half of the children born as accidents and yet, five people are ready to reach their work late to save a kitten stuck on a tree. Sometimes the government does try its best. I mean, the Rail Ministry didn't steal all the tap handles and accessories in the train bathrooms.
To quote Frank Costello from The Departed, "I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me."
Be the change you want to see in the world, someone has to take the first initiative, maybe he will not survive the revolution, but he will be a martyr inspiring others to emulate.
And the biggest irony, just as these words are being typed, I know for myself that people will say that I belong to the same group of blame transferers. To them, yes, maybe I belong to the same group, maybe I don't, but that isn't the point here, we are not judging me, judge yourselves. Each of us.
So, to sum up, the biggest irony of India are Indians itself.
- We know that our poor are mistreated and our rich are just feeding off their flesh and yet we cannot even pay a penny to each beggar that comes on a train. We happily provide reservations for the rich "backward classes", but the actual poor who need a reservation, not cause his great-great grandad used to clean toilets, never do.
C'mon people, for godsakes, get over with this. So someone is your lineage was mistreated by someone in our lineage, and for that his next of kin got a fancy government job and your family is now better off than mine, and yet you want a reservation?
It's like passing down the crown just cause somewhere in history your dynasty fought some great war and claimed it.
- We know that we are not allowed to follow our dreams and are forced to become Engineers, but none of us are actually courageous enough to not hope for a six figure salary and be a journalist. The "char log kya kahenge" theorists seem to forget that they belong in that "char log" set. Go to fancy college, mug up xeroxed notes and flush it down at in interview, you are a perfect groom. But, a guy working a McDonalds to pay for is PhD, not so much na?
- We know that kissing in public is normal and pissing isn't even civilized, but who cares, wanna pee, shove it out, wanna kiss your girlfriend, get a room dude. Bajrang dal and other Indian culture preservationists, sack couples on valentines day, they never go close down an old age home and ask children to take care of the parents, why?
Or were old age homes actually a part of Indian culture? - We worship our Gods and Goddesses with milk but cannot even offer our fellow beings some water. Whenever life gives us a blessing we will run to the nearest temple to thank God and not to the nearest orphanage to help the less fortunate. Rather than going to babas and gurus, try going to psychiatrists to solve your household problems.
- Protest vehemently on the internet against rape and discrimination against women, yet none of us have ever gone in a darkened alley to check why there is woman shouting at the end of it. And even to women, stop stereotyping men, we don't all look at your ass and want to peel off your jeans. Apply feminism where it is a mandate and not a fashion. It doesn't hurt a college going young female to leave her seat for a 50 year old male.
- We know that our celebrities are flawed but we treat them like Gods. It's great when a player performs okayish in the team. He performs in one match and he is suddenly the idol of all. His Facebook fan page comes up, the stories from his childhood get revealed and before long he is given million dollar advertising deals.
Low and behold, one match he doesn't perform, well, let's go burn his house down. - We oppose female foeticide, but, "Kya sharma ji, dulhe waale khali haath wapas jayenge kya?". As the qualification of the groom grows, so does the expectations for dowry. Even in the 21st century why is there a need for a girl to marry a guy with a salary at least 1.5 times of her?
For the very same reason, we still believe that a working woman is a myth, we will continue to look at couples where the male earns less or even equal to the female as taboo. - We sympathize with our farmers committing suicide but we argue about reducing the price of 1kg tomatoes from x to (x-2) and then go but a 200 buck coffee from CCD. Drinking tea at the local shop doesn't demean you status.
I can go on with this list, but I guess you understand my point. The fact precisely augments my aforementioned point. We are great talkers, orators, thinkers, not much of doers. The number of hours we spent messing about each other's opinions could be spent on much more productive activities. But, as always, we are the rooting tooting generation of "dudes" and "gals" who will sneer at our darker skinned friend, refuse to sit beside a Muslim guy, undress every woman with our eyes, get an engineering degree, get a luxury job, frown upon every other person with a lower salary as if they were your servant, and when everything is settled, pack a cold beer, switch on the AC and tweet about our filthy roads; and this is the percentage which actually couldn't go abroad to look for a "better lifestyle".
Love your girlfriend, don't blame the marriage culture of India, go marry her.
Hate the filthy roads, rather than going to the gym get a group and fix it on weekends.
Don't wanna be an engineer, go tell your parents, throw as big a tantrum as you threw for that iPod.
Wanna help farmers, stop patronizing your local supermarket because it has AC.
Ain't contended with some politician saying rape isn't a crime, go stand in elections, or at least vote.
Stop blaming things on our leaders and politicians. Look at America, a nation discovered by an accident, half of the children born as accidents and yet, five people are ready to reach their work late to save a kitten stuck on a tree. Sometimes the government does try its best. I mean, the Rail Ministry didn't steal all the tap handles and accessories in the train bathrooms.
To quote Frank Costello from The Departed, "I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me."
Be the change you want to see in the world, someone has to take the first initiative, maybe he will not survive the revolution, but he will be a martyr inspiring others to emulate.
And the biggest irony, just as these words are being typed, I know for myself that people will say that I belong to the same group of blame transferers. To them, yes, maybe I belong to the same group, maybe I don't, but that isn't the point here, we are not judging me, judge yourselves. Each of us.
So, to sum up, the biggest irony of India are Indians itself.
Comments