[[ UNTITLED ]]. Review on India, General

A Prelude U Might Not Understand

TRRRRRRING!

He(me) lazily turns off the alarm. Sits up on his bed n stares at whatever his eyes catch 1st. A good 2-3 minutes later, he's stared his sleep away a lil bit. He gets up, brushes, washes his face n flops down onto the sofa.

“Maaaaaaaa…coffee!”

He takes the day’s newspaper in his hands n reads it, sippin the coffee. Coffee’s a great balancer, he finds out. Every time he gets affected by some news, coffee eases him back to normality. But it wasn a day for the hero. The newspaper outlasts the coffee. He gets up, goes into his room n stands in fronta the mirror. He sees The Krypt lookin back at him n givin a wry smile. He(me) sighs n asks The Krypt. The Krypt nods n goes n stands in a corner watchin the proceedings from a distance which wudn unnerve him(me).

The Krypt can sometimes be half-decent.

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Note: This review might contain a series of disjointed points. Don’t mind. It’s a stream-of-consciousness review.

India is the 7th largest country in the world; it is also among the 20 biggest economic powers; its got the 2nd largest armed forces system in the world; its got an immense variety of cultures n topographical features; it prides itself in “Unity in Diversity”…YEAH, YEAH SO WE ALL KNOW! This review’ll not be coated with sugar. I’m writin this review after bein disturbed(n disgusted) by wot’s happenin around me in my country. N one should always let a frustrated guy rant n grumble. Atleast THAT’d shut him up. So bear with me a lil while.

sighs…smiles weakly:)

Ok, now, lets start off with the obvious comparisons. Japan was a pile of rubble after WW-II. Singapore was a country for laborers n slaves. Now both’re among the most developed nations in the world. Even China’s made increasingly rapid strides towards light. THEN WHY THE(beep)’RE WE STILL LIKE THIS?

A coupla days ago, I was lyin on my bed in the dark, alone, n kept starin at the darkness, thinking. That’s wen I realized that I was proud of India, the land –the vastness, the variety, the expanse, the ridiculous no of different cultures n lanfuages. but it wasn the same with India, the country. Wot makes a country good or bad? The people. Look at us now. Corruption, riots, tension, double standards, poverty, illiteracy. I wont talk about the politician traffickin women scam or that Richard Gere-Shilpa Shetty outrage crap. There’s nothing new or surprising about them. N they’ve been discussed to death. We believe our culture’s the best. I disagree. NO culture or religion’s better than the other. They’re jus a set of ideals n beliefs which may vary from place to place n as they say “different people, different perceptions”. You see, THAT’S where the whole problem lies. We’ve classified virtually EVERYTHIN into superior n inferior –castes, sex(wot with female foeticide still throbbin in places), culture, religion…BAH! Its not our fault, actually. That’s how we’ve ALWAYS been. They say we must be proud of our glorious past. I’m not. Atleast not wholly. See, our past’s where our problems originate from. Right from the time of the Vedas or earlier. The caste system began right back then with the society bein divided into Brahmins, kshatriyas, shudras, etc. Females were not allowed inside places of worship. Some sects were branded “untouchable”. They say, we are as our parents were. That’s y we’re still the same. The same ideals n beliefs’ve been passed on, generation after generation. We’ve been sick for ages.

We’ve always been overtly religious. Almost to the point of fanaticism. So much so that, science n art almost invariably suffer. Back in school, when I was learnin my first laws of physics or theorems in maths, I SO longed to hear an Indian namel but all I got were Pascals n Newtons n Pythagoruses. I SO wanted to hear about Indian artists of the gone age; all I got were Michelangelos n Da Vincis n Raphaels. Sure, there were exceptions(Aryabhatta, C.V.Raman, Rajasen), but they were far n wide n terribly few. Its been a coupla years since I passed outta school. I’m almost into my 3rd yr in engineerin now. And I’m still waitin.

We’re a nation of double standards n hypocrisy. India’s got 16 percent of the world’s population- more’n a BILLION people cramped into 4 percent of the world’s total area. Evidently, sex is one of the nation’s favorite pastimes. And yet sex is taboo. We’re prouda khajuraho, we’ve given the world its first pornographic book, The Kamasutra, and yet we cant digest nudes in contemporary art. We tear the painting to shreds, burn the gallery n throw stones at the painter’s house.

We blame the government for how dirty our city is n yet we don’t hesistate before throwin that Lays’ packet we jus had out the car’s window, onto the road. We dress up immaculately in the latest Armani suit n yet spit out our excess saliva onto the roads. Man.

I don’t get it. How come we lag sooo far behind in technology n creativity? Creativity in terms of both inventions AND art(I’m not gonna bother wastin space rambling about the quality of our movies). Russia n the US sent up guys in space in the 50s n 60s respectively. Even China did so a while back(n India n China’re often spoken of in the same breath, wen the topic’s ‘Developin nations’). We’re hopin to send one by 2010. Its not like they were made with bigger brains. Hell, we’re supposed to be damn intelligent, academically(nevermind the 63 percent literacy rate.we pride ourselves in sayin “Indians’re brainy”). Lemme use a metaphorical cliché here –that “my country’s my mother” one. Wot’s the use of a mother feelin proud of her beautiful child, if the child leaves the mother for she’s just as ugly? We produce the brains. And we export them. One of the most disturbin occurrings –atleast accordin to me- nowadays, is the fact that even the older generations, ones that’ve been born n brought up in THIS soil, have now given into the belief that there’re no good jobs in India; that foreign’s the place to be in. They bring up their lil one with THAT aim n hope –that one fine day. He’ll settle down in some other greener pasture n live happily ever after. So wot future’re we starin at? I don’t know. Our progress’s painstakingly slow. PM’s come up with outdated, tried-n-tested formulae. And they’re invariably well past their retirement age. Would it help if we had a retirement age for our politicians? Wud it help if we had a younger, more dynamic PM? The president’s powerless. If only Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam’d been the prime minister. Don’t ask me y.i don’t think u need to. OR maybe its time we had a revolutionary or something. sighs

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