National Pride

It is customary for Indians who have been overseas to comment on how progressed and advanced other countries are. Also, it is customary to remark on degraded Indian social standards and customs, the widespread corruption, megalomaniac politicians, handicapped education system and general pettiness of the state.  Indians who have been overseas take pride in the fact that they have been to the beyond, they have seen what civilization ought to be.  I concede, being out of the nutshell gives you a wholesome, panoramic view of the little shell you have been living your whole life in. I, too, have  noticed stark differences in philosophies, thinking and mentality of people from different nations across the globe and what strikes home is our utter lack of national pride.

The other day, I was listening to the usual rant of a friend, GU, about the pitiful state of affairs in India and a Lebanese friend joined in. GU continued to recount of the day when a traffic policeman demanded a bribe of five rupees to let him go without paying the ticketed amount. “Its just five rupees!10 cents! The police in India is so pathetic! What can we do! Its India.”, He remarks. Our Lebanese friend musters a smirk. I can not even put my emotions into words, I felt humiliated, ashamed, sad, and angry at the same time. Here, my smart, IIT-ized friend mocks at his own country, in an audience that probably does not know how to spell India. To them, India from now on is a land of petty people, petty in morals, petty in earnings, petty in respecting one’s motherland.

Some people would remark, unless you know your shortcomings, you can not work to improve them. I concede again. But is a mocking, derogatory tone necessary? If my mother is illiterate, I would never call her names and be ashamed of her. And yes, I have heard other nationals talk about their respective countries, I have heard them talk about the issues with their land, but the disparaging tone is markedly absent. My Lebanese friend tells me how they have to keep guns at their homes for safety, but he also adds that they are also advancing in education and working towards making it a safer place. My American friends lament about their atrociously expensive medical system but they stand proud in the fact that they are the strongest nation in the world. My Iranian friend talks about the amazing nuclear research in his country. However, all I hear from my Indian counterparts is what a raped, downtrodden, widow India is and quite a few of them feel really lucky to have escaped from ‘hell’.

Acceptance of one’s shortcoming the the first step towards improvement, being proud of achievements fuels one’s desire to achieve greater heights. Let us be proud of our teeming billions, the fact that despite of scores of different religions being practiced in India, hundreds of different languages spoken though out the land, thousands of cultures followed, we stand as a successful nation.  Every other country in the world, has at least one unifying thread, language, religion, or political stance. I find it utterly amazing that despite of a single uniting cause, 1.13 billion people choose to coexist in India. We not only are an example of peaceful cohabitation, but also of successful, complete democracy. Yes, we are corrupt, poor, uneducated, but we are steadily running the race, we did not disintegrate. I am proud of it. (despite of one of my friends’ claims – “this is nothing to be proud of”). I am proud of the fact that in fifty years we have made a niche for ourselves.

And, to people of my clout, graduate students in universities around the world, who cannot speak less of the pitiable research in India, we are the land of Sultans of String . We are one of the foremost nations in Physics research, we are foremost because of people who were proud of their roots, who returned back despite low wages, ugly opportunities.

I can list thousand things I am proud of, and no, I am not ignorant of issues in India, and this is not another “India shining” post. Pride arises from a sense of belonging, we are proud of our family and friends and their achievements. Let us be proud of our land. If we cannot find something about India to be proud of, lets become one!

p.s. – I know I have over-generalized, quite a few people I know have been abroad and are fiercely nationalistic. I write about people who are not so.