Was away to Buffalo this weekend. Stayed at a friend's place for Saturday night and got hold of this (hardcopy version). Of course, the topic was too hard to resist. Found the stuff pretty realistic, unusual for a foreign magazine. But I am not here to analyse the article. The real world seldom interests me enough to write about it and Murky-Reflections is all about my detours to dreamland. The article provided an ideal background for the journey.
It was on the back seat of a second hand sedan, driven (and owned) at 85 mph by a middle class Indian graduate student on a near flawless freeway, that my mind started personifying this great country. I thought of nations as students in school and the setting gave me little option but to see US as a brash topper of her class. She is 'the one' of the class, excels in whatever she puts her head in to, commands awe from her peers and is the apple of every one's eyes. Every fellow student thinks of somehow emulating her. The perfunctory humility she shows does nothing but embellishes the brazen pride she has in her status/achievements. There are people who love her, envy her, adore her, hate her but none who can dare to ignore her presence. Yea, she is a real person, was my classmate once. I guess I made it too obvious ;-)
India was the obvious next in line. But I had the hardest time locating India among my school mates. Every time I tried to attribute something/someone to her, there was a thought "Nay, my India is not like this." All adjectives I thought of, came along with their opposites and the line I had heard millions of years back started resonating in my head, "Everything you hear about India is true, the opposite is also true." But then I thought that the line was meant for foreigners and certainly the last 7 months that I have lived here did not make me one. So, did I even know my country? And then, I found myself smiling. I had now got the meaning of what I had heard in some sermon somewhere, "Realization is the purest form of knowledge. Every description is a dilution."
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10 comments:
Mast hai baap!
We sure are everything one can think of. The realization punch line just makes the end a beginning for the thought process ;)
If somebody was to calculate the talentpool in India and compare it to the US , I feel we will win hands down..
And if someone did the same for the talent wasted in India , we will win again..
India is like the notorious child in the class , lots of brains and energy.. Just used down the wrong lines.. :->
If somebody was to calculate the talentpool in India and compare it to the US , I feel we will win hands down..
And if someone did the same for the talent wasted in India , we will win again..
India is like the notorious child in the class , lots of brains and energy.. Just used down the wrong lines.. :->
bertram
Thanks !!
pika
Hardly a punchline !! though glad to know that it inspires one to think :)
manish
India has been the world leader for most part of history and hopefully will regain its position once again. Just give her some time.
It was very good as usual specially the last line "Realization is the purest form of knowledge. Every description is a dilution" is very true...but somewhere I felt at the end things didn't connect.
And I see India as a student who has complete ability and competency but has always been in the back bencher category because of her reserved, shy nature and also because the teachers never noticed her ability but now after staying this way for years she has finally decided to prove herself to the world and is confident in doing so.
Romantic but silly. Countries are too diverse. Undertaking to imagine an avatar says more about your concept of country than the country in question.
"diverse" is ambiguous. I mean "too multifaceted individually"
anonymous
The disconnection was deliberate, to break contemplation and introduce realization. I may have failed to bring this out.
My opinion on India's past is not as negative and I am not as positive about its present as well :-)
FRQST...
Given. Totally so.
But then the blog is about the "perception" of one who has just entered US, after living for 20 odd years in India. And it has a disclaimer at the top "..my detours to dreamland" :P
The U.S. has balls. Sometimes a heart. Sometimes a mind. But always balls. : ) Thus far, anyway.
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