But, is it nothing to know when you are dying, when you are about to take leave of this world, of its joys and sorrows, when the past of your life is unfurled before you, when eternity opens wide its portals, is it nothing to know at that last awful,supreme moment of your lives, that you have not lived in vain, that you have lived for the benefit of others, that you have lived to help in the cause of your country's regeneration?

-Surendranath Banerjea

Sunday, August 1, 2010

A continuation..

Reflections on India by Sean Paul Kelley.. It was pretty much of an interesting read in ZB's.. A westerner ranting and raving on how bad India is.. How vile Indians are.. Well,i could do nothing but agree with 95% of what he told.. Of roads,of electric grids,of dirt,of filth,of bureaucracy,of corruption.. The rest 5% accounts to the exaggeration.. The long queue in the railway station which made him wait for 30min was nothing but an overstatement.. Pro'ly he found no one to teach him how to book tickets online.. Well,poor soul,.had one heck of a hardship coming to India..

It reminded me of Slumdog Millionare which sweeped the academy awards.. We then berated on how manipulative and critical westerners are.. We still do that.. But jokes apart,is there anything we can do about it? Is there anything we can contribute by staying back to work in India and not oozing out its resources leaving the husk to pursue financial heights?

We rave of brain drain. But why do we have that? It's true that India still cannot afford the invaluable Indian brains.. But apart from that,there's definitely one thing India can provide,.recognition.. When we still have appointments based on caste and creed in this 21st century,and deny the most eligible candidates based on anachronisms,how can we justify ourselves in blaming the non-resident Indians,in being non-resident??

Frankly speaking, I'm frustrated,.and at the same time confused.. Which is the way ahead? Is there any way we can contribute to a better India? Is there any way we can shape an India which is beyond the dirty reproach of the westerners?

Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~




2 comments:

sujata sengupta said...

If there is poverty and filth in India, there is in the western world as well, I have seen ummentionable filth and begging on the streets of paris, I have seen homeless drunks on the streets of London, I have faced eve teasers and purse snatchers in countries of Europe. The USA is worse, i have heard. But we usually take the blame of being filthy and poor, more because, we believe that ourselves, we believe that we are no good, we believe that what the westerner says is true. Its our attitude that needs a makeover more than the country. Maybe the government cant do it all, so why not start a society of college kids and do a cleanliness drive?, I see this all the time in Oman, small kids from school cleaning beaches in the dessert heat, because they believe that they own that piece of land, and that it looks great when its clean. The government cannot do it all. There is always hope and I do not for even a moment think that we have lost our way. We are just unsure and confused!

Bikram said...

I am always confused at such articles and then the comments that come after that

we take offence at people saying things about our country yes true we shud but then WE DONT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT...

so what if westerners criticise India.. well to be BLUNT majority of the INDIANS criticise india so why does it matter if a foreigner does...

The thing is its easy for someone to say that KELLY shud have been tought how to book tickets online.. BUT who wud teach ...
a local person might know the ways
anyway all i will say is lets stop fretting over what a foreigner says .. and concentrate on WHAT WE as individuals can do