Ignorance is not bliss!

Every year, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month we dont fail to feel proud about and indebted to all those who have chosen to do boring things like protecting, essentially a line, so that we here can watch pirated movies, study abroad and bitch about the poor amenities back home, have fun at parties and crib about how much of a demanding life we lead. And time to time, the creative minds in our country cash in on this supposed feeling. No matter what the firangs have...we have our sanskar and sanskriti you see. But what do we really understand about these things? What do we think we represent? What exactly do we feel proud to be a part of?!

Very few of us know the answers. Do we know that the Sanskrit that we all are so proud about being the oldest language to be most structured and rich in literature is not even Indian by origin?! that Vedas are not religious scriptures! and they are not even just a set of hymns....they are scientific and mathematical documents?! Do we know that invention of the wheel, wagons and carriages happened atleast a millenium before the much-hyped Industrial revolution of the west?!

We only complaint and rue about why India hasnt taken to the sophistications of the West. When a westerner wonders why Indians don't have a common language, we only smile in response. Isn't it amazing how so many different people co-exist and to what extent India has come in its mere 60 years of freedom. Do we cut the government some slack at all? Do we understand that we are carrying baggage of over 30 centuries and still trying to march ahead? Do we know that even if we maintain the present rate of economic growth India's GDP will be above that of the 'developed' nations by 2030?Do we know inspite of the brain drain industrial growth has been unstoppable?

NO!

We only do things that dont take any effort. Blame, bitch, rue, complaint, discuss, argue, find faults and talk about how we can never become the great nation we once were. The truth is we are. Right now! To have endured such a tumultuous history, to have been plundered and robbed by foreign empires one after the other, to have awed the invaders and made them bond with our culture, to have had the courage to fight the biggest war of Independence against an imperialist regime in the history of the world, to have started with nothing over half a century back and still to have emerged as a major global player in present times...

I myself wasnt any different...and interestingly it so happens that a foreigner can see India in a more positive way than even we do. There are a zillion problems that remain unsolved...agreed! However, they will stay problems until we step forward with the right attitude. For a person who doesnt understand his own roots, growing or moving ahead is out of the question.My concern is not that we complaint....it is that we are ignorant!


For those who might be interested, here is a documentary (aired in BBC) which I really liked about where it all started and how far we have come.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4801B6BFD418FA4A