The one thing that I get really irritated about (and sometimes even find amusing) is when people who live abroad come to India and look at it as if it is like SOOOOOO Backward.... and this includes even those Indians who have lived in India all their childhood, gone abroad and now visit India for short breaks.... "Is the water safe to drink?" "Can we eat the fruits we buy from the market?" and the most ridiculous one ever was "Can we take a bath in Indian water?"
I have often vacillated between being kind to these people to sometimes getting into arguments with some people on these issues.... India has its problems but how is it that Indians have been voted one of the happiest set of people in the world? And in any case these are problems handed down to us by the whites... so its ok that we take more than 50 years to mitigate the effects of 300 years of bad white rule.... I would argue and argue and argue....
But of late I have decided to review my arguments.. no I still dont believe it is ok for people to visit our country and talk bad about it.... but can I honestly look at my country and say that people have a good life here.... Can I honestly blame those people who live in India all their childhood and then go abroad lured by the prospects of a better life??
To be honest to some extent I think they have made a wise decision..... should I love my country more or should I love myself more?? What is wrong with wanting a better life?? True I will be a second class citizen in a foreign country but am I any better here?? Wont I get better rights abroad as a second class citizen than in my own country where I am a first class citizen? My friend Devika and I had a discussion recently where we both agreed that in many ways life in India is restrictive .... especially for a person who really wants to many things with his/her life and not necessarily conform and go through the motions of marriage, child bearing and finally retirement.... and the truth is that in many ways the life of an average Indian is tempered with worries- worries about money, about jobs, marriage, raising kids etc etc.... and you spent your life sorting out all these issues and then you are actually too old to enjoy life anyways....
and when I read about how 30 children went missing over two years with the police doing nothing about it and about how it took the entire country and the media to convict one murderer in the Jessica Lall case, and about how there is no way an average unconnected, non influential person can get justice in India ... I wonder What am I fighting for? Can I deny the fact that life in India is actually not a bed of roses?
I do believe things will get better in India but it will come slowly.... till then what arguments do I have against the obvious problems India has?
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