CONFUSED INDIANS

Look at these reports emanating from Islamic countries
• A teenage girl in Indonesia is ‘ caught’ drinking beer She is sentenced to 40 whiplashes

• A young girl in Somalia is seen wearing jeans She faces a similar punishment.

• Malaysia bans the use of the word ‘Allah’ by non Muslims.

Does all this make you throw your hands up in dismay to say the least?

Wait a minute before you exult with joy exclaiming that India is a far better and more tolerant country. Here are some tidbits from the Indian media:

A minister in Rajasthan attends a beer festival in a 5 star hotel and is asked to resign for this act that is contrary to party –BJP –policy.

Here is a news item Techie lands in jail due to Airtel, sues it for Rs 20 cr

BRUSH WITH THE LAW: Lakshman Kailash recalls his trauma in jail with a shudder.

Bangalore: In Bangalore, a techie has dragged telecom giant Airtel to court because the company had given wrong information to the police and landed the engineer in jail.

“I have spent 50 horrible days in jail. You can’t measure the trauma which I went through, my family went through,”

Twenty-eight-year-old Lakshman Kailash was a successful software engineer with HCL, had everything going for him when two years ago he was rudely awakened by a Pune Police team in Bangalore. Kailash was arrested and thrown in prison for allegedly ‘defaming Shivaji’ in a picture he was supposed to have put up on Orkut.

Does this not remind you of the cartoon incident in Denmark?

I recall that some years ago a TV serial in India aroused a serious controversy when Netaji Bose was shown imbibing whisky. Bengali sentiments were hurt at this portrayal. The TV serial director stated that there is evidence to prove that Netaji did enjoy whiskey and he himself was an admirer of the leader—hence the serial; But when people are aroused emotionally reason goes out of the window. The serial was withdrawn.

I believe there is a strong sense of hypocrisy at play. Many of us are satisfied with tokenism without regard for anything substantial. Thus when our politicians announce an austerity drive we laugh. We know that the same minister who goes economy class will milk the system any way. I can see this in operation at the level of the common man too and even among NRI’s.

I met an Indian here in the U.S who proudly told me that she ticked off a top Chief Minister when he met her here at Washington DC many years ago. She said that she boldly criticized the CM and asked him politically incorrect questions. I asked her whether it was right on her part to ask such questions to a top politician.

Why? What is wrong? I have learnt to think and talk like Americans. They do not wear kid gloves here and do not believe in being deferential to someone merely because he or she is a big shot

I was impressed till I learnt from someone else that months later she approached the same CM for help to get her son admitted to an engineering college in his state –so Indian! It did not end there. The CM told her that he would get him admitted provided the boy served the state for 5 years after graduation.. At the end of the course you know what the boy did? He did not even wait for the convocation. He is now leading a comfortable life here no doubt telling his American friends about how corrupt Indians are! His mother is still telling us what America has taught her!

My friends in the Indian embassy in Washington tell me that the behavior of Indians undergoes a dramatic change the minute they enter the embassy premises. The NRI will wait for 21 days to get a visa to travel to London, will endure a 4 week delay to obtain the smallest of permissions in any US government office but when told that he will have to wait 2 days to get a visa to travel to India he will row a fit. Some NRI’s shout in the Embassy premises words that tell a familiar tale— “Do you know who I am? I can pick up my phone and speak to Sonia Gandhi”. Why can’t Indians learn from Americans?

My embassy friends tell me that they have learnt to handle such pompous and confused desis. They tell them “Here is my mobile phone. Please talk to Soniaji now itself at my cost”.

K.R.RAVI
U.S.A