Summers or no summers! Every Indian borns with a dream to visit a Foreign Country in his Lifetime.Infact one among the FAQ to an astrologer! Like “Panditji, Videsh yatra ka Kya Yog hai”.Without this, the Prediction triangle of Life, Love and Luck is not completed. If Panditji is positive for your Life and Love but NO “Videsh Yatra” then you are down! A Psychological factor hard to sub-factorize. I am one among this desi crowd too. After all I have “pseudo” proud to be an Indian. Some may feel hurt for my usage of this word “pseudo”. Am I not a true Indian? Don’t I respect our great Martyrs? What degree of respect I owe towards the great Indian Ancient Culture? Clearing the dust, I admire my Great Indian Ancient Culture to the core of my heart and have die hard respect for our brave martyrs who gifted us our precious freedom, which an every True Indian should possess and live with. But what we are today! What Image we are carrying to the other parts of the Globe. What laurels we have won since freedom that we can proudly talk about. Big-B is very big in our country but how many times we have been “Oscaried” in our so called ever shining Bollywood History only expect once or twice. And just now I came to know that this our own (for me an alien) MS-Word doesn’t identify the word Bollywood. Well don’t get scared we have a favorite and most used option of “Add to Dictionary”. But tell me that how many times we will be adding our history in their dictionary! Some days back we had celebrated a First Hand Diwali (A Diwali before Original Diwali) on the occasion of successful Landing of Atlantis, the US Space Ship. Congrats NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)! For a while it seemed that NASA has just accomplished a “one in million” mission. And our well acclaimed Sunita Beti is the front runner astronaut of the era. Dirt apart! Out of the curiosity I chanced upon to browse the NASA website (http://www.nasa.gov/) just after the successful landing of much hyped “Atlantis”. I was shocked! It definitely had Atlantis on its Main Page. I had taken a screen shot also. Please care to look at it.
Where is our “Sunita Beti”? The video on the television had shown Sunita sitting right in the centre of the crew,Sunita doing this,Sunita doing that but why no Sunita here on the front page of the NASA website. Rest of the crew members have posed for the photograph but not our Indian Beti.However if you further drill down the website you get the glimpse of the lady who has brought much publicized proud and inspiration to our country! Secondly it was one of the routine missions for NASA.And we had celebrated a First Hand Diwali. Although one can’t deny the fact that there are hardly over a hundred astronauts in USA and it is a real big thing to be a part of the mission. And Sunita is a proud USA citizen only. Originally being a Gujarati, now she is no more a Sunita Vaghela or Shah, she is Williams i.e. Sunita Williams.There is a famous hindi phrase which fits at this situation “Begani Shaadi Main Abdullah Diwana”.So please stop playing the role of Abdullah.
Learn from the past how many Noble Prizes have been given till date to an Original Indian citizen with no dual citizenship of course! Well, please don’t count Hargobind Khurana, Recent Amartaya Sen and likes. None are pure Indians now! Visit the Noble Prize Website (http://www.nobleprize.org/) you will find their right citizenship.Mahatma Gandhi though nominated five times, never had been found fit for the award.
See Excerpts from an article published on the Noble Prize Website:
Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate
by Øyvind TønnessonNobelprize.org Peace Editor, 1998-20001 December 1999
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) has become the strongest symbol of non-violence in the 20th century. It is widely held – in retrospect – that the Indian national leader should have been the very man to be selected for the Nobel Peace Prize. He was nominated several times, but was never awarded the prize. Why?
These questions have been asked frequently: Was the horizon of the Norwegian Nobel Committee too narrow? Were the committee members unable to appreciate the struggle for freedom among non-European peoples?" Or were the Norwegian committee members perhaps afraid to make a prize award which might be detrimental to the relationship between their own country and Great Britain?
For more facts visit the website.
Just another Indian missed the shot.Very few peope know that even Nehru had been nominated for this prestigious award.
Enough on Pseudo.
History apart, we need to introspect that why and where we are lacking!Why Indians are not respected across the Globe especially in the white skinned countries.What made these white skinned people a better human being than us.
We are on the wrong path. I would share some with you!
As “Biharis” for India we are Indians for the globe.You will find a lot of crowd pulling rickshaws, doing labour work all across the country.And most of them are either from UP or Bihar.I am also from UP.Have you ever find a tamilian ,a maharastrian or a punjabi carrying loads in other than his native states.Exceptions apart!
I myself feels bad when someone calls me a “Bhaiya”. Has the word been derogated a lot?
I had studied in allahabad where we used to use this word to give respect to someone.Coming to the point the same “ Bhaiya” image we are carrying to the west.
We are identified the way we present ourselves to them.If we are well dressed and well etiquetted then people will welcome us and if we are shabbly dressed then?
Some days back I was talking to a Punjabi Guy in Ludhiana.People are so crazy here towards the west that they will do anything just to get a VISA for USA or UK.Rich ones can pay as high as 10-15 lakhs .The poor ones are also not behind.They manage to get a Drum in a Cargo Ship which you can call as immoral trafficking.
(This may not be true but I have heard from Rumours)
So,If they are caught then what image they will carry for India.Secondly If one has entered those countries through legal gate.What kind of jobs we most of the Indians do there.You will find many Indians serving as waiters in a Hotel or restaurant, Driving A Taxi or Cleaning Toilets.So are we not “Bhaiyas” of America? You will never find a German or a Europeon cleaning the docks.Albert Einstein was a german and so the many others.Germans are viewed as a Better Breed than Indians.
I am an avid viewer of Discovery and National Geographic.There was one Programme named “Extreme Engineering” on National Geographic.In Australia ,there was one Mega Project Going on .They were on the way to construct a dual usage underground tunnel to deal with the problem of Flood and Traffic simultaneously .Highly advanced technology! Some english people were the heads for the project and you know who were doing the low profile and no intelligent jobs as joining the pipes,flushing the water or digging the soil! I could identify many of them as Indians.The Bhaiya Image.And there these Bhaiyas are from all parts of India.Australians are smart and what we are!Two days later, I saw the similar fate of Indians on Discovery ,labouring at "Palm Islands" in Dubai.I don’t say that any work is bad or derrogatory but there ought to be a fixed ratio of salt in food.What we have become like Food in salt!
Recently I happened to chit-chat with a travel agent in Ludhiana ,Punjab,the Manchester of India and I found certain things really eye catching that prompted me to write this article.
The Guy proposed me a 10 day tour plan to three countries ie Thailand ,Malaysia and Indonesia .The package includes all the expenses like travelling, lodging and fooding.When I asked for the price it really shocked me.Not because it was high but it was dirt cheap.I could not really believe that my dream of visiting any foreign land can come true at this price.First I felt bad and decided that from now on I will not call it a Dream.Is this the globalisation that has made my country so BIG that today I can easily visit the exotic places like malaysia or so with literally no extra effort.I realized that not only me,a guy earning much lesser than me can fulfill his dreams.And all this for just Rs. 25000/-.Can you believe this?Infact there is a 10 % commission of that guy included in this sundry sum.But here again we are taking our Nation’s Image and Pride for granted some where hidden between the lines,which is the crux of this story which compelled me to sum up a few words on this.I got interested and was about to handover him my passport but still I was unable to digest the cost factor.Even If you fly from Mumbai to Delhi in a low cost Airline it will cost you not less than Rs.3500 to Rs.4000 for one way.What is the Magic Maths behind this making resonance and playing trumpets!Are the tour operators doing this for Charity? But ,friends there is no free Lunch in today’s time.And I got the concept well understood .Basic Understanding of Maths played its role here.Hold your breath!
The lucky travellers are basically the carriers of the items which fetches a Higher Value in other country.Here is the crack! Say a particular Item costs in India for Rs. 100 and the value of same Item is Rs.400 in Thailand.So,If one somehow manages to sell that item in Thailand he can earn a pure margin of Rs.300.Have doubts over the justification of this price difference! In USA a 1 Litre Bisleri (Mineral Water) costs more than a Bottle of BEER.For a Dollar or Two one can enjoy a full Can of Beer.In India Cloth is cheaper than in Thailand .As per the Air Traffic Rules one can carry a maximum luggage of 40 kg carry with him.So each passanger is given a box full of clothes weighing 40 kg which is identified and checked-in as his own luggage .As per one Estimate they earn an amount of roughly Rs.500 per kg.So 40 Times 500 is Rs.20000 is the net earning per passanger on a one way trip.Vice Versa there are certain items which are cheaper in Thailand than in India like Electronic gadgets etc., are again loaded with the same passenger.Say they earn Rs. 15000 more on this return trip.So the total earning per trip to the Tour Organiser is Rs.35000.Also they have already charged Rs.25000 from you as the Tour Cost.It makes the Net Income as Rs.60000.Say Rs 40000 is their net expenses Rs.15000 more than what they have charged from you.But Still they make a Net Profit of Rs.20000 per trip.You know there is one more way you can further reduce your expenses.One Bottle of English Wine is all legal to carry with you.It costs hardly Rs. 500 there which one can sell at Rs.7000-8000 back in India.So here you can earn your own net profit of Rs.6500.So effectively how much you have paid Rs.25000-Rs.6500 makes Rs.18500.So roughly with an investment of Rs.19000 one can go for an exotic trip of Three Countries.Wow what a logic!And all is Legal from my point of view.You are not carrying any drugs or similar kinda rubbish with you.Who can object you for Carrying Innocent Clothes!
But are we not sacrificing our Nations’s Pride ?Are we Indians acting more as a Cargo Carriers than as a dignified human being? Have you ever heard any British or German ever caught doing this rubbish!I don’t say its a henius crime but we should never compromise with our Swabhiman.Nation feels proud only when you bring proud to it with your respected deeds.Mahatma Gandhi had brought proud to the Nation by Teaching the Lesson Of Peace and Non Voilence to the world.We need to act in the same way.Never Dream of a Pizza when you don’t have money to buy a simple chappati for youself.Work hard and then earn your Pizza.And There are no shortcuts for this.With this I dropped my idea of accepting this offer.I can’t afford my country to let down its importance for a misdeed to mine.Same way should act my fellow Indians too.
Time has come when we need to get back our Lost Pride.In many parts of the world India is still identified as Gandhi’s Country.We need another Gandhi and this time in the field of Science and Technology.Enough is enough! Don’t we feel ashamed that we still have not been able to land on Moon when people are thinking of Mars, abroad.Time has come when we have to stop dancing as a mere Hand-Puppet of foreign powers.We need to develop our own identity .Make our own space ! A Bodhanyan, an Aryabhatta and a Ramanujan has to take rebirth.And if they have already taken birth then time has come to identify and use them for the progress of the country.Time has come when we need to to identified as a superior breed.Time has come when we have to re-write the history.In 16th Century when Columbus had dicovered America and Vasco had come to India then Cloumbus had cursed its fate as both of them had a target destination of reaching on the banks of India.And Vasco had emerged out to be the winner.And what we are today !How many Vascos and Columbuses do really feel great,even think of coming to India.Time has come to raise the level of India as the most preferred destination of the globe.We need to rework on ourselves right from the scratch.
Only then I can stop calling myself as a Pseudo Indian.
Time has come to raise from the level of derogated Global Bhaiyas to the status of Dignified Bhaiyajis of the East.Time has come when we have to stop just praising the west.Rather Work for a Graceful India! ......................Jai Hind
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