Several months ago, Seth Stevenson wrote in Slate that he was trying really hard to like India. He started off his series by saying that it was okay to hate a place and presented the typical begging, dirty, urine reeking India that takes a materially developed foreigner by complete surprise. He went on to grudgingly add some good words about Tendulkar's, the Casino group and other places that were meant to offer comfort; from the lap of which, the depressing reality can be viewed dispassionately. I recalled this article when I read Vimal's post about Globalization. One of the comments in that post mentioned that rural India will probably remain largely unchanged for the next several years. I couldn't help but agree that India is a land of such vast contradictions. There is so much diversity that it is hard to 'typeslot' this country. Sometimes, I hate the fact that this is how my nation seems to an outsider. At other times, I am proud to see that India is becoming a hot spot for many different things - some for flattering and others for not-at-all flattering reasons.
On one side, we are fighting hard with China to become the number one sweat shop in the world. On another side, we are teaching the West to meditate and de-stress. Which other nation can effectively cause stress to its natives while turning Yoga into a multi million (maybe my math is terribly wrong. Perhaps it is in the billions?) dollar industry? A psychologist I know mentioned that his waiting room is full of IT and ITES professionals these days.
On a third side, the Laloos of the country are refining the ridiculous. On a fourth side, rural India still needs so many basic amenities. On a fifth side, the urban crowd has so much more wealth to flaunt, liquid cash to burn. There are many more sides and far greater contradictions than sides.
Like Tharoor states in the first chapter of his book India: From Midnight to the Millennium, "And yet India is more than the sum of its contradictions. It is a country held together, in the words of its first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, "by strong but invisible threads.... About her there is the elusive quality of a legend of long ago; some enchantment seems to have held her mind. She is a myth and an idea, a dream and a vision, and yet very real and present and pervasive." ."
Evidently, Ayn Rand who said, "Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong." did not have India in mind!
In a land teeming with billions, can there really be a single good approach that will benefit all, hurt none and can still be implemented? I guess not. There will be good ideas that will benefit a number of people and those will be pursued even when armchair experts lament the loss of Indian-ness. A single common good is Utopian. A greater common good is realistic. That is why there are Pizza Huts and there are beggars outside their doors.
7 comments:
Well said.Oxymorons are always
interesting.And Probably that's
the reason when they refer
countries, they would refer as
"she".As someone said "Women
are bundle of contradictions",
it's right to refer India as "she".Echo Do u know, why the
ship is referred as "she":-)))
Well Phoenix - I am sure you are going to tell me anyway why the ship is a "she' - go ahead & shoot.
Can't agree more to your depiction and as you put it there are so many dimensions to look into when coming up with ideas. Some of the other dimensions that add up to these contradictions are the fact that India has to fight against India many a times! There are so many internal issues that get embodied to the outside world! To name a few - Corruption, so called "Freedom Fighters!" - Terrorists in simple words and what not!
What a coincidence about this post - I was watching a movie called "Tango Charlie". I am still mid way and the movie portrays the Indian BSF fighting fellow Indians all over India - starting from Kashmir (Jehadis), Manipur/Assam (ULFA, BODO), West Bengal (Maoists), AP (Naxalites), Gujarat (communal riots) ... I don't know what more is in stock. The movie may be great hit - but the bottom line when someone watches the movie, a "Contradicting" impression about India is bound to be disseminated!
A connection between language and female "subjection" has been more intensively explored in feminist circles both here and abroad.
Many psychoanalytic thinkers thought, man is a primary subject,and considered woman as a secondary object: SHE stands in relation to HE as moon does to sun, earth to sky, night to day, and, most important, matter to spirit. Indeed, the very word MATTER, as many theorists have now pointed out, encrypts the Latin word MATER (for MOTHER), which is also an etymological root of our word MATERial. For this reason, some feminists claim, an object like a ship is often defined as a "she" while the active agent who sails the ship--the subject--is seen as a "he."
Totally agree with you there when you say there cannot be a single good approach that will benefit all, hurt none and can still be implemented.
That would be heaven right ;-)
But, we have ensure that the gap between the 'contradictions' don't widen beyond a certain threshold.
85 years after getting Independence, the states of United States of America, were no more united. South was fighting the north.
When I see the news about foreign companies investing in India, it's either in Tamilnadu(chennai),Karnataka(Bangalore), Andhra pradesh(Hyderabad), Uttar pradesh(Noida), Maharashtra (Bombay, Pune) or New Delhi.
What about the rest of India?
I sense that states in India, are falling under two category. Developed and Under Developed.
We need to bridge the gap between these states. Or else, 40-50 years down the line, we might very well face a "War of the States" in the line of American Civil war.
Hi!
This is a very nice blog. Being an Indian I go through these love-hate emotions towards my country all the time. I have satisfied myself (in this regard) by accepting that I like certain aspects of my country and don't like certain others.
There is one other problem that bothers me a lot and that has to do with our complacency (and more often than not encouragement)towards growing hindu extremism. Even the written press seems to be doing a lousy job addressing this issue.
Thanks for your comments Phoenix, VJ, Vimal & Anonymous.
VJ - very true. There are so many internal issues that get projected to the outside world and ultimately it becomes so hard to define India and Indian.
Vimal - You are insightful about internal feuds in the country. As I see it, the disparity between classes is growing so fast. We are at the start of a whole new class war between the haves and the have-nots.
Firstly, I think Indian public sector must wake up to the fact that it needs to meet the market standards of pay if it needs good people to run it. There are so many talented Public Sector heads who are not able to get anything moving because they need to fuel their effort only on idealism.
Secondly, there must be a mandatory educational qualification (atleast class 12) for an Indian to contest in the elections. We must realize that equality can be misplaced too.
Thirdly, there must be government powered measures to encourage people and organizations to adopt and develop villages. That is where the heart of India is. If 900 million sits in the villages where it looks like 1970s India never went away, then there is no point in calling India a fast developing nation.
Anonymous - thanks for stopping by. I agree that it is impossible to completely love India unless one were totally blind. There are good things and there are bad things here.
And complacency is indeed India's catchword. Not just as far as curbing any form of extremism but also from the perspective of going out there and shining.
I don't know if each nation manifests a particular set of emotional characteristics in its people, but I will readily believe that India is a nation that manifests complacency at all levels.
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