Monday, October 30, 2006

National Pride

What is that makes me say ‘I am proud being an Indian’? The more I see other countries, read about them the less I feel the pride. These days I regret to accept it but there is no pride left, I am not saying I do not love India. Love and pride are two different facets of emotions.
I read somewhere that ‘National pride is to countries what self-respect is to individuals’. It is one of the primary conditions necessary to bring about improvement in the country.
A few weeks back I was in Thailand with my Gal on a vacation. I was expecting that country to be just like India. I was wrong in every goddamn measure of yardstick. The infrastructure is amazing, the roads wide and smooth, the train system in Bangkok provided for a strong mass transportation. This is in a country which is not stable politically! The bus we took to Bangkok was a VIP bus available to public run by the state. It was a Business class flight seat with the only difference that the vehicle was on road rather then air. We landed in Bangkok very early by road around 6:00 AM and man the roads were full, people are up and going to office. Those people really work hard I presume.
One more interesting aspect which according to me indicates the maturity of general public is how people treat women of their community. Ladies usually were dressed in western cloths there and most of them had mini skirts or some kind of dress which one can term skimpy. But not one Thai male would look at them lewdly or there was no instance where some groups of males were involved in eve teasing. Thailand came across as a country which treats its women in high regard. I understand some who read this might not agree with me saying that its a land of prostitutes. What I am saying is even those prostitutes are treated well there, that shows women are kept on a pedestal, which proves it all.
Towards the end of our trip we went on a bicycle trip in Bangkok. We met some Swiss/ Dutch and Britain people, when asked about my nationality for a second I was literally ashamed to say I was an Indian.
We may have an illustrious cultural past, great history strewn with amazing personalities, superb resources. The fact is everything we have is about our past what is in the present and what is in the future. Nothing much to talk there right! We are a nation whose people are engaged in procreating more than anything else. What else can explain the 1 billion plus population we have? Indians are like a Virus we have used up the resource in India so we have started to spread everywhere else like USA/ UK/ Australia. Wherever we go, we just start multiplying, just run your eyes around in any community outside India. There will be invariably some sizable number of ladies in some stage of pregnancy. Do I need to say more on this?
India would need a minimum of 10 years to setup a decent state of infrastructure and I have no idea how long it would take for our people to mature and move ahead in life.
Bottom line- with the current state of affairs for me there is no pride left in being an Indian.