Why there would be no "Acche Din"
Congratulations!
You actually clicked the link to open this page. There is a considerable chance that a crackhead (who possibly has no work, is suffering from a midlife crisis or has a miserable offline social life) will comment some random vile criticizing me, my family or my upbringing, without even bothering to read what I have written. Now that you are here, please take time to read till the end without forming opinions.
Given the recent election results, no one can doubt the intensity of the "Modi Wave" in the country. After a scorching campaign and winning a thumping majority in the Parliament, my congratulations to the man of the moment and I wish him the best of luck in running this country. But this post isn't about him. (I used his image only to direct more traffic on my blog). Its about India, and that there would be no "Acche Din". But why so?
The answer is simple, because we do not deserve it.
We Indians simply want freebies without having to pay for it. We all seem to be in a hurry that overtaking from the left is not even considered a misdemeanor, leave alone courtesy. We want to be the first to board the metro and the first to get down, with no regards to others. We travel in buses, leering at the lady sitting next to us with our lecherous stares and would slap our sister or daughter for simply talking to "boys". We want our trains to be fast but we do not want to pay for it. We will wear Reeboks worth 8000 and haggle with the vegetable vendor to reduce the price of half a kilo tomatoes. We will play patriotic songs, watch patriotic movies, listen to speeches on 15 August and 26 January but forget our duties for rest of the year.
We will treat our daughter-in-laws as vermin but will cry foul if our own daughters are asked to work hard. And the same goes for sons as well. I could go on and on about the older generation including the religious bigotry, but then it would be more of cultural rant than an "attitude" problem. (While I am at it, the Gods here also prefer people with money with the advent of "VIP Pass" at prominent temples.)
Everyone from the older generation (and the younger too) gets peevish talking about sex. But we have no problem with 1.25 billion people in our country which have put tremendous burden on the resources leading to hunger, poverty and crime. We are okay with watching Sunny Leone in our living rooms with kids but will beat our teenagers black and blue if they happen to like someone from the opposite gender. We are fine with rapes ("लड़को से कभी कभी गलतियां हो जाती हैं ") but our health minister opposes sex education and condoms. We have no problem watching porn or getting a chance to sleep with our girlfriend but we want a virgin as our wife. **E1**
We all want our streets to be clean and free from filth but we won't stop tossing our waste without thinking twice. **E2**
Which brings me to another point- excuses. We Indians are extremely good at excuses (and blaming others). A driver will make excuses for breaking the traffic rules saying- "यार, जल्दी में हूँ" (Everyone in India is in a hurry yet they are always late). Almost all of us will blame each and every thing wrong on the government- Be it trains running late, power cuts, water problems, environmental issues, law and order. We Indians think that since we are paying our taxes (Sorry to interrupt but you STEAL more taxes than you pay) it is the responsibility of the government to do each and every thing of us, whereas we can do whatever we want.
How about not protesting on railway tracks for reservation? Or not pulling the chain to get off at a place which is closer to your workplace but not the station.
How about not stealing the power from the transmission lines? Or not wasting water while bathing, cleaning your car or watering your lawns?
How about not skipping a traffic light when there is no policeman, or not stealing or not raping women. Is it that hard?
How about not bursting crackers at Diwali and keep the air clean?
How about staying at the office till 9-5 instead of 10.30-4.30? (with big Lunch and Chai breaks)
For those in corporate, how about actually WORKING in the office instead of fooling your manager by your presence and log in times?
And then comes the ages old retort which renders almost every sane person speechless. "क्या यार, फिर से शुरू हो गया, छोड़ ना"
Most of the people initially hate people who point their mistakes out and ask them to stop "preaching", i.e let them live the way they have been living because status quo is better than changing yourself.
I am very tempted to make an example of the place I currently study and reside in- the United States. Though I have seen a very small part of the country, I have been humbled by their exemplary civic sense and public behavior.
But I shall not go further due to two reasons-
1. Praising the civic sense of the U.S will take a separate blog post in itself.
2. I have known certain people who have questioned my patriotism (or fellow Indian students who have come to the U.S) saying that I "abandoned" my country for my selfish reasons (i.e to earn money)
People like these do not bother to think that calling me names will not change the reality- that India is in such a shoddy condition because of people's laziness. Who do not want to change their ways, do not want to shed their ignorance (religion and castes playing important factors in this)
and most of importantly do not want to see the truth, but can only call me names.
These people, incidentally the youth of India a part of the student class- they despise English, saying its only for the elite (& incidentally suck at speaking clear Hindi too) and the people who are good at it, not to mention talking about Indian culture as if they are the only guardians left to preserve it. However, their lives tell a different a story-
Imagine a 20 year old boy whose father runs a small grocery shop in a remote village. How would you feel if his son smokes cigarettes, drinks daily, leers at the girls in his college but is a flop academically (and has no other skills to boast of either). Well, welcome to India.
**E3** Even the ones that do not indulge in their distasteful habits are happy with their mediocre IT industry jobs despite having the potential for achievements. **E4**
Dear Indians, if you really want अच्छे दिन in your lives- grow up (mentally) and get rid of the two phrases- "चलता है" and "जुगाड़". Stop using "Jack" to pass in exams/getting tickets to a concert/ getting a promotion, stop bribing the policeman, stop being fashionably late, shopkeepers- stop stealing sales tax by not giving receipts, housewives- treating your domestic maid with some respect, they have children and drunk husbands to deal with, car drivers- stop treating the roadside vendors as shit, they are simply trying to make a living. And above all, if you do not want a good future for yourself, at least stop insulting people who have the guts to leave everything behind and yet probably love the country more than you.
We have a long and glorious history of कर्मठ people. Aryabhatta, Rana Pratap, Shivaji, Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and more recently APJ Kalam. Don't let these greats down just because you are too lazy to do what is right.
Wake up India, for if you do so you might just usher the "अच्छे दिन"
जय हिन्द, वन्दे मातरम
(P.S- I am not an RSS Agent)
List of possible excuses and their answers (as marked in the text)
Excuse 1- Dude, You don't have any right to talk about morality. Look at the U.S, their 'improper culture', scantily dressed women and their divorces rates
Short Answer- At least they are not hypocrites like Indians. They do what they love and do not have double standards.
Long Answer- The only way you know "American Culture" is through movies and the internet which is very different from what they actually are. My Advice- Get off the computer and come see for yourself. You'll be surprised to see the truth.
Excuse 2- "यार Dustbin नहीं था आसपास"
Answer- "Where there is a will, there is a way". Since India is so notorious for lack of dustbins, why don't you keep a spare plastic bag with you to throw garbage and then take it home to dispose it properly?
Excuse 3-"यार, U.S में भी तो ऐसे लोग होते हैं"
Answer- But they work their asses off to earn their own money and then spend it.
Excuse 4: "We have a family back home which needs money. "
Answer- Don't you think studying hard and getting a 8 lakh job is better than wasting time and settling for a 3 lakh one? **E5**
Excuse 5- "So, Are you suggesting we should all become a nerd or a साधू, only focus on our work, giving up all wordly pleasures and not enjoy anything? "(I sense deep frustration wrapped in sarcasm in such a question)
Answer- No. To answer you, I have seen more crazy partying in the U.S on weekends than you could ever have in India and yet people work so much harder during the weekdays. Are they geeks? Or साधू? Not in the remotest sense of the words
You actually clicked the link to open this page. There is a considerable chance that a crackhead (who possibly has no work, is suffering from a midlife crisis or has a miserable offline social life) will comment some random vile criticizing me, my family or my upbringing, without even bothering to read what I have written. Now that you are here, please take time to read till the end without forming opinions.
***DISCLAIMER***
I am not someone who fears criticism or blames the person criticizing me. I am however, someone who is hyper-allergic to idiots. You are more than welcome to debate issues, online or offline as long as you are reasonable and present me with facts. In the text below, I might have mistakenly referred to Indians as "you" instead of "we", please consider this a humble grammatical mistake from me. This doesn't mean I consider myself a person of high moral sanctity. I am as much an Indian described below as you are. To people who like my writing but find a lot of interruption due to the text in parentheses, pardon me because I have personally known people with such responses I simply do not want to leave any scope for misinterpretation. I have also labelled excuses people usually make as **E1**, **E2** and so on with a list at the end, for free flowing text.
*** *** *** ***
The answer is simple, because we do not deserve it.
We Indians simply want freebies without having to pay for it. We all seem to be in a hurry that overtaking from the left is not even considered a misdemeanor, leave alone courtesy. We want to be the first to board the metro and the first to get down, with no regards to others. We travel in buses, leering at the lady sitting next to us with our lecherous stares and would slap our sister or daughter for simply talking to "boys". We want our trains to be fast but we do not want to pay for it. We will wear Reeboks worth 8000 and haggle with the vegetable vendor to reduce the price of half a kilo tomatoes. We will play patriotic songs, watch patriotic movies, listen to speeches on 15 August and 26 January but forget our duties for rest of the year.
We will treat our daughter-in-laws as vermin but will cry foul if our own daughters are asked to work hard. And the same goes for sons as well. I could go on and on about the older generation including the religious bigotry, but then it would be more of cultural rant than an "attitude" problem. (While I am at it, the Gods here also prefer people with money with the advent of "VIP Pass" at prominent temples.)
Everyone from the older generation (and the younger too) gets peevish talking about sex. But we have no problem with 1.25 billion people in our country which have put tremendous burden on the resources leading to hunger, poverty and crime. We are okay with watching Sunny Leone in our living rooms with kids but will beat our teenagers black and blue if they happen to like someone from the opposite gender. We are fine with rapes ("लड़को से कभी कभी गलतियां हो जाती हैं ") but our health minister opposes sex education and condoms. We have no problem watching porn or getting a chance to sleep with our girlfriend but we want a virgin as our wife. **E1**
We all want our streets to be clean and free from filth but we won't stop tossing our waste without thinking twice. **E2**
Which brings me to another point- excuses. We Indians are extremely good at excuses (and blaming others). A driver will make excuses for breaking the traffic rules saying- "यार, जल्दी में हूँ" (Everyone in India is in a hurry yet they are always late). Almost all of us will blame each and every thing wrong on the government- Be it trains running late, power cuts, water problems, environmental issues, law and order. We Indians think that since we are paying our taxes (Sorry to interrupt but you STEAL more taxes than you pay) it is the responsibility of the government to do each and every thing of us, whereas we can do whatever we want.
How about not protesting on railway tracks for reservation? Or not pulling the chain to get off at a place which is closer to your workplace but not the station.
How about not stealing the power from the transmission lines? Or not wasting water while bathing, cleaning your car or watering your lawns?
How about not skipping a traffic light when there is no policeman, or not stealing or not raping women. Is it that hard?
How about not bursting crackers at Diwali and keep the air clean?
How about staying at the office till 9-5 instead of 10.30-4.30? (with big Lunch and Chai breaks)
For those in corporate, how about actually WORKING in the office instead of fooling your manager by your presence and log in times?
And then comes the ages old retort which renders almost every sane person speechless. "क्या यार, फिर से शुरू हो गया, छोड़ ना"
Most of the people initially hate people who point their mistakes out and ask them to stop "preaching", i.e let them live the way they have been living because status quo is better than changing yourself.
I am very tempted to make an example of the place I currently study and reside in- the United States. Though I have seen a very small part of the country, I have been humbled by their exemplary civic sense and public behavior.
But I shall not go further due to two reasons-
1. Praising the civic sense of the U.S will take a separate blog post in itself.
2. I have known certain people who have questioned my patriotism (or fellow Indian students who have come to the U.S) saying that I "abandoned" my country for my selfish reasons (i.e to earn money)
People like these do not bother to think that calling me names will not change the reality- that India is in such a shoddy condition because of people's laziness. Who do not want to change their ways, do not want to shed their ignorance (religion and castes playing important factors in this)
and most of importantly do not want to see the truth, but can only call me names.
These people, incidentally the youth of India a part of the student class- they despise English, saying its only for the elite (& incidentally suck at speaking clear Hindi too) and the people who are good at it, not to mention talking about Indian culture as if they are the only guardians left to preserve it. However, their lives tell a different a story-
Imagine a 20 year old boy whose father runs a small grocery shop in a remote village. How would you feel if his son smokes cigarettes, drinks daily, leers at the girls in his college but is a flop academically (and has no other skills to boast of either). Well, welcome to India.
**E3** Even the ones that do not indulge in their distasteful habits are happy with their mediocre IT industry jobs despite having the potential for achievements. **E4**
Dear Indians, if you really want अच्छे दिन in your lives- grow up (mentally) and get rid of the two phrases- "चलता है" and "जुगाड़". Stop using "Jack" to pass in exams/getting tickets to a concert/ getting a promotion, stop bribing the policeman, stop being fashionably late, shopkeepers- stop stealing sales tax by not giving receipts, housewives- treating your domestic maid with some respect, they have children and drunk husbands to deal with, car drivers- stop treating the roadside vendors as shit, they are simply trying to make a living. And above all, if you do not want a good future for yourself, at least stop insulting people who have the guts to leave everything behind and yet probably love the country more than you.
We have a long and glorious history of कर्मठ people. Aryabhatta, Rana Pratap, Shivaji, Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and more recently APJ Kalam. Don't let these greats down just because you are too lazy to do what is right.
Wake up India, for if you do so you might just usher the "अच्छे दिन"
जय हिन्द, वन्दे मातरम
(P.S- I am not an RSS Agent)
List of possible excuses and their answers (as marked in the text)
Excuse 1- Dude, You don't have any right to talk about morality. Look at the U.S, their 'improper culture', scantily dressed women and their divorces rates
Short Answer- At least they are not hypocrites like Indians. They do what they love and do not have double standards.
Long Answer- The only way you know "American Culture" is through movies and the internet which is very different from what they actually are. My Advice- Get off the computer and come see for yourself. You'll be surprised to see the truth.
Excuse 2- "यार Dustbin नहीं था आसपास"
Answer- "Where there is a will, there is a way". Since India is so notorious for lack of dustbins, why don't you keep a spare plastic bag with you to throw garbage and then take it home to dispose it properly?
Excuse 3-"यार, U.S में भी तो ऐसे लोग होते हैं"
Answer- But they work their asses off to earn their own money and then spend it.
Excuse 4: "We have a family back home which needs money. "
Answer- Don't you think studying hard and getting a 8 lakh job is better than wasting time and settling for a 3 lakh one? **E5**
Excuse 5- "So, Are you suggesting we should all become a nerd or a साधू, only focus on our work, giving up all wordly pleasures and not enjoy anything? "(I sense deep frustration wrapped in sarcasm in such a question)
Answer- No. To answer you, I have seen more crazy partying in the U.S on weekends than you could ever have in India and yet people work so much harder during the weekdays. Are they geeks? Or साधू? Not in the remotest sense of the words
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