Forgive me, but I will not apologize for speaking my mind. I will begin by saying this; There was a time, long ago, when Made in India evoked wonder and piqued interest from all over the world. This was long ago, long long ago, when the rich spices traversed the Silk Road and the daring explorers fared the Sea Route. There was a time when India was the richest country in the world. Richest in spirit, richest in character and richest in life. It was the time when India stood tall for its purpose of spiritual unity. It was the time when the Whites who came from England resembled beggars (that we are today) in front of the princely brown skins. We walked with heads held high, we walked with a sense of duty. How do I know? I was born during that time, ok? I can go on and on but I guess the point I am trying to make is that there was a time when India was everything but a gutter.
Fast forward to the days of today and we find India down in the drains, drained of everything it once stood for. We have lost our character. We have lost our identity. We walk with heads held up other’s asses, especially the white skin’s. We walk with no real purpose in life. No unique identity, certainly. We walk simply as cheap laborers of South East Asia, snatching itty bitty bits of morsels thrown to the ground by them, the noble westerners.
How did this happen? Can we really put all the blame on the British? Wait let me back up, how can we put any blame on the British? We are like this today because, we let it happen and we are continuing to let it happen (Convince me otherwise). So, the question is, how did we let it happen? Great Britain colonized about ninety, yes, ninety countries. They infected the continents like viruses, like cockroaches. Yes, they did bad, bad things. They broke our spirits, they systematically split the spine of our age-old secularism and they relentlessly bludgeoned our self-identity until all that was left was, ‘that white skin seems so superior!’. Yes, they did all that and much more. But, for how long will this Excuse Express run the rusty tracks?
So many decades later, we are still riding on the self pity, on the pretense that we have always been like this. The British did not hand over India to Indians. Remember this, they handed over frail Mother India to the Brown Britisher. We have been disillusioned, the sense of being Indian blemished to distort the truth. We have become dogs with tails tucked, hidden precariously between the hind legs. Nobody, none of us ever question the situation. None of us want to get the self identity back. None of us want to be truly secular? None of us want to be Indians, the benevolent brown skins? What the hell is happening in India?
I see married men still in consultations with their mothers for every other petty decision. I see my friends (including me) joining engineering colleges for no goddamn reason. I see stupid idiots posting ‘whiter’ selfies on Instagram. I see people looking down sheepishly when they speak to the Whites (It always reminds me of myself as a guilty child being reprimanded by my school Headmaster). I have a lot of friends in the US and I have a lot of friends in India, and the difference is striking and stark. Almost everyone I meet in the US, usually, is doing things in life because of the love of it, unlike in India where we do it, sadly, for the heck of it.
Made in India is a dying brand. A brand which once stood for quality, for love and for everything not average. Today, it stands for cheap labor, cheap commodities and cheap ideals. The blame is on us Indians and only on us. For playing victim for far too long. We have been far too subserving, far too blinded and far too impressionable. Where is our identity as Indians who once walked with dignity? Why can’t we pretend that we have not lost any of the shine of the yesteryears? Why are we squabbling like rats amongst ourselves while the whole world watches, merely amused? We have literally been made into lab rats. Are you okay with that?
You may not agree with anything I have said here. But you do understand that we need to walk with our heads held high? You do understand that we need to walk with a purpose, or more importantly, in search of a purpose?
We are from the land of the Zero.
We are from the land of the Peace.
We are from the land of the Gods.
We are Indians, my brothers and sisters,
so let us truly be,
Indians.
“Don’t dig past, all you get is dirt”. Future is fertile and possible. Have a vision and work for it.
you filled my eyes, kramadhati. I will not quote any of the sentences, because I could feel every word, each one of them. I would like to, in the history of last 10,000 years we are the only nation, who never invaded anybody, not even culturally. yet, even after 1000 years of all kinds of invention (even from brown British), our roots, culture, morals are still intact, its just that there is some dust on it. lets dust them, and be truly who we are.