Monday 19 July 2010

India- A funny country



I am an Indian and I love my country to a point that I turn a critic most of the time when I have to talk about it. And my criticism is taken as antinational and self-righteous. We like to hear about us that we are a growing superpower, and an economic powerhouse, but we hate to hear that we are culturally messed, corrupt and hypocrites.We don’t take a criticism constructively. We are self centered and are least bothered of our environment. Though India is blessed with great amount of Natural bounties, we Indians have fucked it to a point that its one of the dirtiest countries in the world.What we care is to mend our own space. Perhaps, centuries of oppression, superstitions related to religion and culture, poverty etc has made us this, or the plague of over-population, but many great nations of today have had equal share of troubles in the past. Japan, Germany, Israel etc are classic examples.

Being a critic actually helps to know yourself, your country and the society better.   

1.      Our love for the male child. I know of families who have had five children in an effort to produce a male. We provide the best to him, and starve and ill treat her. We have a tradition where a girl departs the family of her birth, after her marriage and she is no more considered part of the family. Thus, noone to care for, when the parents of the girl are old and in need. Its justifiable, isnt it? Why do we have a tradition of calling a girl PARAYA after her BIDHAI? Why do we call a man-GHAR  JAMAI- If he wants to stay at the girls house after marriage?
2.      We believe that paying bribes in government offices are a norm aand the only way of getting things done; otherwise they would be taken to task and would be moved around. We cheer when we see movies like Lage Raho Munnabhai, where an old man strips when confronted with a corrupt BABU, but we consider such acts a fantasy or fiction.
3.       We have very few entrepreneurs per million people, compared to most well off nations. We believe in getting educated, and then in finding jobs. Entrepreneurs have shaped countries like America or Europe. They may be greedy and capitalistic, but they create jobs, and in turn pay back the society.  This may be seeing a change in India and we may be creating Entrepreneurs these days.
4.      We are a lot funny people- We feel wearing a lot of Gold ornaments and shiny, flashy cloths helps the world believe of our class.  We have no faith in minimalism. We believe that over feeding leads to good health. We feel that a human should work till the old age and only retire because he is unable to perform anymore. We believe it’s abnormal and bigheadedness to question the status quo.
5.      We believe, per se, in Paisa Vasool. We would travel that extra meter on a Rickshaw for the worth of every Paisa.. Or we would include the entire family and stuff them inside a Tata Sumo, instead of the intended 4-5 passenger. We crowd the Airports, Railway stations etc, by accompanying a relative on his journey.
6.      We believe that a Brahman is born different to a Kshatriya or a Shudra. We( in Kerala/Tamilnadu) believe that a Brahman has more brain power and can excel in places like Bank, finance, Maths etc. A Baniya is a born businessman and it runs in his blood.

I cant think of more, but we Indians really are a bunch of funny people. Think about it, removed from the Idealistic, Jingoistic and pseudo patriotic outlook, and you would agree to it.

12 comments:

The Panorama said...

Good post, ZB. I agree with you on a lot of counts and could certainly add more but being a NRI, maybe my critical eye has sharpened even more and I tend to compare it to the country I live in, which is quite unfair.

I know this may sound like putting the blame elsewhere but India was colonised and empoverished...poverty creates a culture of its own and justifies a lot of bad things. If you look at Africa, it has a lot of similar problems like we see in India.


However, India is what it is - a great country: The world looks to India for inspiration and spirituality. And rightly so, because we do have that too. That is what makes India so wonderful. The two extremes co- exist.

ZB said...

@Panorama: I cant help but agree with you. We export spirituality and inspiration.....but i feel we are a very dirty bunch of people. Our cities are horrendously polluted...Rivers are disgracefully dirty....we have absolutely no regard for wild animals and national parks. But i guess we are Great in many things too...and one day come out of the bonds of the past and triumph over the world... Inshallah

Neha said...

we politicize almost all the issues..you know, we always face this problem while voting - whom to vote? who is less corrupt? who wil at least work for a month after winning? who visited our area twice before election compared to the single visits of the other leaders? which caste he belongs to? if he is hindu, we will be benefited..but if he is a muslim, then he will favour minorities more..if he belongs to schedule tribe or schedule caste, he will favour reservation and we will be/won't be benefited - the list goes on and on for one issue - voting..

bribes - I am strictly against receiving and giving bribes..but that's only me..till today most of the people give bribes..I know it will take time, but I don't even see determination in people..these days, bribing starts when your kid turns 3..bribe to secure his seat for future in the best school, bribe to get him admission in the best college, bribe to get him a job, bribe to bury one's body and issue death certificate immediately..oh god, I can go on and on..

male child - my family people have this bias - and I have been very firm about this..I am praying that I get a girl child whenever I want to have a baby..call it my ego - I don't care, but I hate this bias..

the discrimination is not only for brahmin and non brahmin, even people of different states discriminate..if you end up from north to south and vice versa, and you have a small turf with an auto wala or something, you are a dead meat!

I will stop here..or else i will go on and on..a thought provoking post..

Neha said...

yeah ZB, this template takes ages to load..this is a common problem with such kinda blogger templates with background design :)

HaRy!! said...

Hey ZB... as usual always me waiting to read yur post where we the debate never ends... well Ahem.. Agree on all of the points but a single take.. all this because well educated and literate people who can evolve and bring a different society altogether ( like yu, me ( ok dont laugh :))and so many) do not want to Live in INDIA and settle abroad... a selfish deed.. which i dont blame.. and i blame... sorry mate... dont get this wrong!

Bikram said...

:) wowo oh yes thats us .. THE INDIANS... nicely put i must say..

1. male child ooh yes .. see where it has brought us states like punjab people are actually BUYING brides from nepal, bengal and south
On a silly note I dont mind beign a ghar jamai provided she is RICH he he h

2. Bribes is in our blood, each and every individual indian needs to havea complete BLOOD TRANSFUSION to get rid of it all its in our genes... i mean we say to a child "DO this I will give you a sweet ".. we start much younger ...

3. agree
4 .totally agree .. FLAUNT it is the word if you got it FLAUNT it :)

5.airports we still carry our stuff in a bed sheet tied with ropes, and then argue with the guy sitting behind the counter when they say no seats.. COME EARLY.. oh no we have to make a LAST ENTRY ..

6. he heh and a jat sikh is only good in drivign tractors and ploughing the fields ...

indeed FUNNY PEOPLE we are ...

We allow arranged marriage where no one knows each other and for love marriage where couples know each other for years we say NO...

so many funies we got

BK Chowla, said...

Neha is right when she says that we politicise everything, yes, perhaps we do.
But, isnt the mess in the country only due to politicians, havent they screwed up the system of governance,hasnt corruption taken it's toll, hasnt non accountability made a mockery of democracy?

Gayathri said...

I can relate to every goddamn thing you've mentioned here with my life!!

My grandpa wanted/expected/hoped me to be a guy,..and was disappointed for the next two days after my birth!!

It's not a sumo,but ambassadors filling my memories!

And a hell lot..which mostly comes up in community get-together..it's high time we break all these barriers,at least the ones that we set!

wise donkey said...

the worse part of the love for boys are the foeticides and infanticides . and this doesn't occur in the rural or poor parts but in the richest parts of delhi and mumbai.

i agree with the substance of your post, but why just narrow it down to Indians when its 4 and 5. the us is infamous for its consumption and energy wastage. we are just aping the worst of the west.

wise donkey said...

sounds incredible but i have visited and liasoned with many govt offices in India and have not paid a single rupee as a bribe.

my recipe. i take one extra trip the first time, to find out the docs reqd. dont mind waiting and dress modestly. and dont ask for shortcuts.
even the corrupt love their jobs more than the bribes.

Raj said...

lets just say somewhere something went wrong or maybe right.

and as 4 the extra meter in the rickshaw its solely cause half of the country or moe maybe is the average middle class.

wise donkey said...

whats worse 7 Indians in a Maruti or one American in a Hummer