Swadesi or Dreamer?

I am patriotic. Period. That is not open to discussion and I am not writing to confirm that. The purpose of this blog is something else. I have been posting pro-swadesi articles for a while now and felt very strongly about many issues that concern India and her future. But I have been told many times by many people that my “swadesi” feeling is just a romantic version of me being home sick and missing home. At first I felt they were challenging or undermining my patriotism. Anger…that was my emotion. But on further discussion I found out that my patriotism is so not challenged but it is my “swadesi” feeling that is being challenged. So what is the difference?

I would like to think we are all patriotic. We should be. Citizenship is not just another thing that ties you to a place. Citizenship is your identity. You should love your citizenship and hold it close to your heart. I know I do. Swadesi I feel goes a step further. You feel so close to your country. You sense its pulse. You take pride in her success. You feel rage at her defeats. You feel responsible for her shortcomings. (No, I am not going to quote JFK here. What a cliché). You feel you can make a difference and you will.

Now that I have established what I feel swadesi is let us move along.

So my swadesi feeling was challenged and today I answer my critics (yes, I do have critics). Here is my response.

• Yes, I have not felt so strongly about many things when I lived in India. I have few reasons for that. I was a kid. I have matured since then. I have seen more of this world now. I formed opinions about many things. Some right and some wrong but I know I am learning…aren’t we all?
• Yes, I know the other side is always greener. I know things are different from here. I know things you take for granted here are not in India. But I grew up in India. If I go to India and stand in line for an hour to pay my electricity bill I won’t be shocked. I won’t be surprised. I have been there. Now I do it in Chicago using easypay because I can. If I had to stand in the line during freezing Chicago winter I would. Wouldn’t you?
• Yes, I am home sick. I was not home sick for the first few months. But then things changed drastically. There were many reasons I changed. I have been through tough and challenging times. And I have felt lonely then. In the very low point of my life I have felt more home sick than ever. But things changed again…I know it is not easy to get over it but I have. I am still homesick and I miss my family. But would I have my whole family here and still feel homesick? Probably not.
• Yes, I know the work culture is different in India and people work long hours for less pay. Believe it or not I have worked long hours for less pay in the land of opportunities USA.

Why am I being so defensive about this? I should be. I am mature enough to understand the difference between patriotism and home sickness. I have been hurled that question too many times lately. Why is it so hard for someone to understand that I can WANT to be in India even though I have a good life here? Why does it have to be because the grass is greener on the other side? Why can’t my feelings be genuine? But please don’t get me wrong. I don’t show blind patriotism. As I have written in my previous blogs I do not say India is the best no matter what. Neither do I say everything is bad about India.

I know what I am talking about. I am not trying to re-enact the movie Border here but I will continue to voice my opinion. I will continue to show my patriotism. I will continue to say I miss being in my country. I will continue to show great joy when they launch satellites. I will continue to cheer for our cricket team and curse the losers who eat up a spot and do nothing. I will continue to curse the politicians who are corrupt. I will continue to applaud the efforts of many who are making a difference. I will continue to try and make a difference. And you know what…I am a swadesi and I will continue to be one…

GO INDIA!

Go India!

This is a proud moment for India...Go India!
PSLV Launch


"With this launch, India will become the fourth country after Russia, America and China to have mastered the hi-tech area." How about that huh?

India Today

One of my friends got me the special new year issue of India Today from India. A very good issue and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. So to that friend - thank you!

The issue is about how India's next 30 years will be. Each article written by guest writers respond to specific questions related to India's next 30 years. Some of the questions that are answered -
* Will India suffer from an energy crunch?
* Will gay marriages be allowed in India?
* Will our population be a boon or a bane? ...etc etc...

Some are well written. Some state the obvious. Some don't make sense whatsoever. :) The worst one is written by Benazir Bhutto, the former PM of Pakistan. So the question she is answering is this - Will India and Pakistan form a viable asian union? huh? And she is the best person to answer that questions (which is absurd anyway) because??? Yeah, beats me! But she talks like she is the greatest political reformer known to mankind. Apparently, she had done great things for Pakistan and her party "moved" the peace agenda with India. HA!

That article was a disgrace. It was her election manifesto and I have no idea why India Today would want to publish it. Now all her claims...that's not the worst part. What really sucks is she is comparing Pakistan with India. Hello?? India is competing with China here and she is trying to compare Pakistan's economic growth with ours? Phew! She talks about how democracy in Pakistan will remove all the problems that is hampering India and Pakistan's growth. I mean come on...Pakistan might be living in Stone Age but don't blame it on the dispute with India. Blame it on your incapability to maintain a stable democracy or for that matter stable dictatorship in the last 58 years. Blame it on your incapability to separate religion and state. Blame it on your lack of investment in education (other than terrorist training camps). Blame it on the doorknob leaders you had. I recently heard from someone that Karachi can be compared to Mumbai. Now waitttt aaaa minnnnute!! Mumbai is compared to NYC and Shangai.

This turned out to be a rant but I just can't stop myself when I read articles like this. They deserve my ranting and much more...

Nuts and Bolts - parte dos

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Nuts and Bolts - Parte una

After seeing me go through another year of waistline increase my wife decided it was time I do something about it. So I have been told I should be working out everyday and eating healthy. Those were among the other New Year resolutions she took for me. So we decided to buy a treadmill and fill up our already overflowing apartment. After very less consideration we decided the guest room had too much space anyway. The guests can hop over the treadmill and land on the bed which is btw so close to the wall that you can actually smell the paint at night. Well, we bought it last week and brought it home on our friend’s newly purchased SUV (he also helped me carry it, poor dude).

So it was lying there for a day and I figured there are only so many of guilt bombs a man can take. Guilt bombs, aka wife-giving-you-the-stare are what that get thrown at you when you were supposed to do something but you spent sitting on the couch watching football instead.

Ok, I took it out of the box and stared at it for a few minutes. The damn thing weighed over 100 pounds. Holy crap! I need to be healthy to put this thing together. Well, I have to do it anyway so I started…

So I opened the instructions and it says “DO NOT CUT STRAPS”. Straps? What the hell are straps? Well, there was a yellow rope-thingy that I had cut. Could that be the strap? Maybe…Fine. Moving on. My wife decided we should be facing the window while jogging on the treadmill. Great. I love the scenery too but now we have to turn it around. So we turn it around. Done. Lemonade please!

Instructions are very well written – insert metal cast extension into metal cast on the left. Repeat on right. Sounds so easy. If the damn screw fits perfectly yes but this one took little bit of tweaking. Argh! Done. Right side done. I already hate this treadmill. Imagine working out during my precious ass-on-couch time. Oh well…there are bigger tragedies in life. I can’t think of anything right away but there are. J So done with 2 instructions and now the platform had two metal hands fitted on both sides to support the console (yes you have to picture a treadmill at this time if you haven’t done it already). My wife who decided it was a good time to review the instructions we have completed so far, found out we had screwed up. The damn bolt which we screwed in with great difficulty had to really go in the back and not the front. What? We have to loosen what I tightened like there is no tomorrow? Alright…you gotto do what you gotto do. Done. Phew!

Now the console…you might think that it should be easy but only if the freaking console would be properly aligned to the metal rods. They are but only once you screw all them half way in. They had so generously left that out of the instructions. So after much cursing and fist-thro-air(can’t do fist through wall) we got the console in. It was 11pm. Next instruction – screw the handle bars to the sides of the console. Wait a minute. Those bolts had to go in the back which means we have to remove the bolt that was already swapped once. Holy Canoli…is this a joke? Again?

Alright I call it a night. My wife agrees since she too had done considerable amount of work to get this freaking thing assembled. So there it stays staring at us with its wrongly fitted bolts and nuts. As I return to home today I am picturing myself going through some more nuts and bolts tonight. Maybe it would turn out better. Maybe not. All I hope is I will be done tonight and can start working out tomorrow. Yeah, that is what I am looking forward to. What has the world come to in this New Year!

To be continued…..

India 2006 continued

This is the latest response I got for my question - "The boom in the civilian-commercial aircraft sector in India also crossed my mind. The nuclear deal with US...and of course, Shashi Tharoor....Another thought (somewhat related) is that when I saw the huge number of Indians here now in US- most of them so professional and so well qualified, I wondered what India would be if all their expertise were put to use to benefit our country and what will it take to do that and why that is not the case!!!!"

I like the way this person thinks. Interesting question towards the end. Watched the movie swades? There are quite a few good quotes/observations. One among them is this - "apne aangan ka diya giving light to neighbour's house". Pretty self-explainatory.

Here are my thoughts about the last response - It doesn't cover every angle but it is something that has been on my mind for a while.
I think there are benefits from people going abroad and working hard and providing for their families. We want to be a country willing to learn and grasp everything good out there. People who study and work here learn to be more courteous, tolerant, result oriented and ambitious. We need to take those values back. I think people who wish to do good and bring changes in out country should do it. Waiting for a revolution will take ages. If you think you can make a difference, well you should make a difference. (I guess I am digressing a bit)

One of the other scenes I liked in the movie Swades was when the village heads tell that no matter what India is the best because we have sanskar and parampara. This scene really stays in my mind after my last visit to India. I was caught in a oldies discussion. At my wife's place. Her dad and his friends were talking about politics, home and abroad. Towards the end of a long discussion of how bad India's roads are, hospitals are etc etc, one of them said - "no matter what India is the best because we got great culture and values and we respect our parents. In America kids throw parents out of the house". This caught my attention. It was jtust like the movie. People want to stay in denial. Hold on to their false ego. Of course I am no shah rukh khan to rebel against those oldies and lecture them. (And besides I was at my in-laws place). But that has to be changed. We need to understand that we can improve. Don't say everything is bad but don't say no matter what we are the best either. I think the newer generation who are here are best equipped to change that attitude. We as a country should realize that we can improve before starting to do anything. Accepting that we have culture and values but lack in many others things is the first step. We have potential but need to accept that we have weaknesses and are willing to improve. That is what professional and well qualified people who live and work outside the country can do for India.