ARE WE TOUCHY ?
Are We Really Independent?
That's how we are!
TOUCH ME NOT INDIA
Perhaps it is in our mental makeup to both love and hate someone simultaneously. Take for example the way we both love and hate Pakistan—and this is heartily reciprocated by our neighbours. On the one hand there was substantial evidence of bonhomie at Mohali and on the other 26/11,Kargil, issues like Kashmir draw ire-justifiably as far as India is concerned.
TOUCH ME NOT INDIA
In Pakistan it was said some years ago that they would be willing to drop their demand for Kashmir if we let Madhuri Dikshit settle down in their country! My friends who have visited Pakistan tell me stories of the affection they received on the streets , of how hotel managers would refuse to accept payment , of strangers inviting them to their homes for a meal , of common people expressing love of Bollywood etc But they also tell me that two subjects are taboo while in that country—Religion and Kashmir .
The same is the case in relation to the west. Anytime I write adversely about India I get a volley of predictable responses—all of them telling me that the US is no better. I have lived long enough in the US to be aware of their problems but I am amused on one count. The people who attack me simply assume that in writing about India’s failings I am automatically extolling the US ! And the people who criticize the US may have just applied for a US visa!
The fact is that we need to learn several things from other more prosperous countries like the US ,Scandinavian nations, Canada etc .It is unbecoming of us to pretend that since all countries have their problems all are equal and there is nothing we need to learn. This tendency to declare ‘ equality’ and to be touchy about any criticism, however well meant, is not conducive to our prosperity. It is this attitude that prompted Gautam Adhikari to write the book ‘THE INTOLERANT INDIAN’.He has set the cat among the pigeons in naming us as intolerant when we take pride in our so called tolerance since ‘time immemorial’. Luckily the class that is touchy has so far not read this book –or else we might have seen a barrage of insults heaped on Adhikari.
By the way one can have a healthy love hate relationship . For example one can choose to learn the right lessons from advanced countries and reject things that are damaging. Few would deny that the US is an international bully, guzzles fossil fuels , damages the environment, supports dictators, deposes duly elected leaders even as it swears by democracy, has a failing family structure and ethos, demonstrates greed at very high levels, wastes scarce resources, has scant respect for international opinion,over spends, is the largest operator of a ponzai scheme[its unbridgeable deficit],arm twists countries India included, is self absorbed with the average US President [let alone the man on the street] not conversant with the locations on the world map of most members of the UN, etc.
But we can also learn something admirable from them and many other developed nations –things and qualities that we sorely lack and which have put them where they are and whose lack is a speedbreaker in our path to development.
We can learn provided we cease to be touchy.
K.R.RAVI
