Thursday, March 17, 2011

Shining by contrast??

My folks say "Stop comparing!!" I agree to disagree with them when they say this :) Why shouldnt we compare if the comparison is going to make you feel good about any particular thing?? Well, with one such comparison can I say, India is not as bad as we all Indians portray it to be!! Read on for facts :)

Our FAQ for NRIs - "Alli heege traffic ilva? Roads ella chanagidya? Pollution ilveno alva? Alli hawe clean aa tumba?? " and their reply - "Ayyo alli roads wide aagi beautiful aagiratte.. ee traffic menace, ee pollution enu iralla" .. Good lord gracious!! Enough... Step out and see the other countries yourself.. Only the intensity and degree of pollution is less... Come on!! with the population so humongous,and resources that limited, it is but natural to be as it is in India.. PLEASE DONOT term India bad!!

After moving here, I have seen that every country has its degree of pollution, its degree of unhygenic conditions, its own degree of goods and bads.. But we Indians swing between two extremes - either stand up in the middle of nowhere and shout on top of our voice saying "Mera Bharath mahaan!!" or totally condemn it and make it appear like hell on earth.. Let's be moderate guys!

As I was walking back home this evening, I saw an unimaginable traffic jam near our apartment.. But to my surprise, I heard no honking, no grumbling from people.. The cars stood equally spaced between their neighbors.. And the drivers sat with ease and tolerance.. I began to imagine a similar scenario of jams back in India.. The scene on my mind: two screens: one - showed what I just saw in Dusseldorf, two- showed how it would be in Bangalore rather India in general.. Am sure you all can imagine it :) I laughed at the composure of the people here and at the hooligan like behaviour of people on roads in India.. Well, dont get me wrong when I say this. My sincere apologies for using harsh adjectives..

My intention of writing here is to simply say that we should stop complaining about our country.. What has the country done wrong? It is the people in the country who, with their behaviour, practices and attitude, make the country good or bad.. I am sure you wouldnt deny this!

In every country there are problems that might be unique to that land.. In ours we have population which is the major culprit, and the scarcity of resources and opportunities which are it's derivatives. We tend to extrapolate the problem and crib about it..
What we travellers can do is to see the good in these countries and imbibe it in ourselves, go back home and preach about these learnings to the people with who we interact.. This might not bring about a radical change, but yeah, it is surely going to add a miniscule of a difference..

We can change the situations in our country.. Efforts from various NGOs and non-profit organisations are striving to achieve this.. And yes, hats off to them :) Maybe we could join hands with them too!

Lemme tell you guys, if any other country were given the load of our country's population, they would have lost their senses and would have given up!! But we havent!! We ARE definitely able and we surely can handle it better than anyone else..What lacks in our country is the urge to bring a radical change.. What we score over others is our complacence :)

Hmm.. So, for my dear hubby who thought (maybe) he could convince me to settle abroad, my sincere apologies for the disagreement :) Just kidding you!!

India is good.. It is a lovely place to dwell.. And I am here, only to see places, compare things I see here to the things in India and say "Ahh, India isnt all tht bad!! I wanna go back home, with no regrets what-so-ever"!!

On a concluding note.. India is not shining by contrast.. I only threw light on certain similarities in the problems and that India is still a better place to live :)

Cheers!

6 comments:

Ashwin S Kumar said...

SOOOOOOOPER Arch :) Your best post till date :) Topic-wise as well as writing-wise :) LOVED reading this...Keep going :)

Archana said...

Thanks Ashwin :)

Bala said...

Nice.. India is not at all bad.. but there is a lotsa scope for improvement.. ( Just saying in managerial vocabulary). I dunno whether you have seen the situation in Japan. Nowhere in earth could be compared to their discipline...
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcaffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com%2F2011%2F03%2F15%2Fwhy-is-there-no-looting-in-japan%2F&h=073b8


I want my bharath to be mahaan, and show how to live to other countries... That's all the reason for pointing out all the bad here.. not to blame or accuse.

Archana said...

You are correct bro when you say "there is scope for improvement" :). And am sure every alert citizen will strive towards this..
Be it Japan or the US, lets get their good to our country .. Wat say??

Shayan C said...

Its exactly the way i feel too :)
i could not have seen a better post to describe the differences between namma desha and other countries!
keep it coming :)

Archana said...

@Shayan,
Glad that we share similar opinion :)
Honestly, when you speak your mind , things come out well in such blogs ... It was only the manifestation of the inert feelings here :)