Skip to main content

The advantages of being Indian

Last year, on the day of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump's Presidential elections, our class was quite frantic. Most of my classmates either have a U.S. citizenship or plans to go abroad to the U.S. to study, at post-grad, graduation, or under-grad level , itself! So it made perfect sense that Trump's victory concerned them.
 Maybe we  want to go abroad to pursue our dreams, and it's all fine if we're set upon Oxford, or fashion designing in Paris, or Sports Management in a laid-back, rugged place like Australia, or business in Canada, or research in, say, Antarctica(!), etc. However, if we Indians are looking at the overseas for its glamour-adding quotient, we might be mistaken. Life abroad may be harder than we believe it is.
 Here let me stress that there is no reason for us to be ashamed of being Indian. There are reasons, however, for us to assuage any patriotic-sensation.
1. There are over a 1000 languages that we can learn without feeling that they don't belong to us.
2. There are over 500 dishes, 500 kinds of desserts, and above 300 varieties of appetizers that share a tag with us- they too are 'Indian'!
3.  Our country is scenic and the versatility of our peninsula makes it more pristine than many prettier countries that just seem to good to be true.
4. Our climate is perfect. There are barely any extremes, and it isn't extremely bare, either! (implies, there are quite some variations in climate)
5. We are a peaceful nation. We don't mean harm to any other country, and hence are at no risk from anybody.
6. We are democratic. We don't have a Hitler at our head. (Let's be grateful!)

There are so many other reasons that they outnumber my patience in listing them down. India is a wonderful country.

A couple of years ago, my family and I had made a trip to Hong Kong. The last day of the package included a sightseeing tour. The guide was extremely energetic and cheerful, and she kept the spirits of the two families she was in charge of, quite high. However, at the commencement  of our tour, when she told us that she had ensured there were two Indian families together so that we could mingle and feel at ease, I felt ashamed, embarrassed and disappointed. I knew that we would not be able to converse well because of regional and linguistic gaps (in spite of both knowing English and Hindi!). This is because, India is so diverse that we associate our identity not with our country, but with our state or city. Let's change this together.

We cannot stop  at India being wonderful. We need to make her better. So if you look at the overseas solely for glamour, remember that trying to make India a better place, has a fair share of glitz to it, too! ( a far more grounded, humble glitz)
However, if you have dreams that are broken by the barrier that the seas pose, do not hesitate to go beyond our little world to fulfill them!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What the New Year Means to Me

 What does the new year mean to me? I don't know.  I think it just means that I can give myself another chance to try, fail, succeed.   I think it means that I can spend time with family, differently this time. I think it means that I can connect with people and with myself, in new ways.  I also think that it gives me a chance to see things with a different lens. The kaleidoscope becomes a periscope. I don't know what else. Every year, I put on a new pair of goggles. Every year, I grow, whether I try, or not. Some things may work as I had expected them to, some may not. But who knows?  I will allow myself to be Novak Djokovic in my arena, who hears his name when the crowd cheers for Nadal or Federer. I will allow myself to be Rafael Nadal, who always has a plan, no matter how bleak or bright things may seem, and sticks to it. I will allow myself to be Roger Federer, who glides in, serves, plays and walks out, all in grace and style. I will allow myself to b...

Fact and Fantasy

How much is fact, and how much is fantasy? Winter mornings are dewdrops. They settle like the treble in a song, only to fade away like echoes.  I can hold them on my fingertips, but the next instant they are gone. Elusive. Just like peace. Just like people you don't really know. Come to think of it, I realize that everything in this world is transient. The barking of the dogs in the neighborhood. The incessant crying of a baby. The footsteps of the milkman. The steady, tremulous tone of someone making a point over the phone. The chatter of neighbors. Yet, only a few moments have passed before I can remind myself that transience is, after all, a tricky business. Everything appears temporary because it is warped by time and spaced into a fragment of its entirety. What appears to be a puzzle, is actually just one piece.  I am wearing the most concrete example of this irony of interconnectedness. Of permanence. Of durability. It wraps your hands and skin in the warmth of several i...

(How I Wish) People Were Like Poems

Today, I wish people were more like poems.  A sad truth is dawning on me.  I can't just be. Most things just are. No proof required. No justification. Here I feel like an instance Of a class. Some kind of template  With some methods Instantiated. Many of my methods are public. Others comment on them. If I encapsulate, They pry. If I am abstract, They talk. What's going on? I'm not going to plead any more. I'll just shut all the doors. Make all the methods and variables private. Too many people tampering with the balance of it all. Our lives are not portraits or leaflets to hand out. Media often makes us feel so, but existence is way older, Authentic and organic- than the glitzy hood of social media. Human beings, like plants, need space, nourishment and nurturing To thrive. Are plants dependent on these things? Can they not stand on their own roots? They can, and they do. But you cannot neglect  The environmental variables that make them happen. So don't comment on ...