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Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Indian-ness of it all...

My darling of a friend posed this question for me today, what is it that defines the soul of India? What is it, that pulls us NRIs so strongly towards it and yet repulses us to reside outside it all? Do we love the little chaiwala managing his stall and is so willing to serve us, is it the uncle-jis and aunty-jis who are almost always willing to get us married off or are willing to fill us up with food, all out of affection? Is it the "jugad" for everything or the "milte-hai" attitude of people? What is it that makes that country so lovable?Why do all my short and warm affairs with this country keep me alive for the rest of my time away from this place? And still deep down inside, I'm not willing to move back yet...why?

I find it hard to ignore the "equality in inequality" in this place called home. I find it troublesome, how a place like Delhi with the rich, mighty and the intelligent falls prey to numbness. Every time, I move a few paces away from the New Delhi railway station to go to Panchkula, I'm overwhelmed with the filth and poverty. At one side, we have the beautiful fly-overs of Delhi, the swanky pubs, the unbeatable service of air-conditioned malls, where even a driving ticket is held out to you by hand and then on the other hand, there is your little chaiwala all of 10 years, handing you out chai at the road-side. Am I comfortable with this gaping reality?

When I read and hear about fancy terms like "Gobalization", "Service-sector economy","Equality","Outsourcing", "Development"....all that comes to my mind is Hygiene hygiene hygiene...Hygiene in our environment, hygiene in our political system, in our infrastructure...in everything around us....Why are we talking these big terms???? When all we need today is for us to pick up the broom and clean up places, when all we need is awareness and education and when all we need today is to share what we have in abundance....

The countries I've traveled in the past 2 years have no past to talk about when compared to India. We have an invaluable heritage that we've just taken for granted. It's kind of like the spoiled rich brats, who waste their wealth on everything and anything that makes them to stop thinking. We've overlooked what we have by the over-dose of consumerism. Yeah, its like dope for the youth. Dope them, numb them out..so they cannot see or feel anymore....Let them shop till they drop, keep them away from visiting the monuments, fill trash in all our heritage and keep them blind from the real treasures and wonders of life.

We are a forgiving nation and we forgive ourselves and others any moment that we are shown the bling...and that I feel is the biggest infidelity that we show to our nation...We seem to forgive our politicians each time they dwindle the prices of oil and gas, we seem to forgive the corrupt, each time we are shown the greens, hell..we forgive ourselves for bribing and overlooking serious crime scenes. We forgive and we forget. If that's not all...we gloat in the glory of it all :)

I hope that someday, some time soon, when I've traveled enough, gathered my thoughts enough...I can justify and overcome my own cowardice towards my nation and be able to show my own love and respect towards it...till that time...I will continue to write about it and think about it...help me..help me sort out my feelings for a nation I love and yet distance myself from...

No cheers to that....

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