I risk sounding judgmental, at large, bizarre here, but that won’t be able to stop me from airing my voice. For last one decade, I’ve been completely irritated on an absurd phenomenon creeping into our so-called ‘classy’ class’ minds. I name this phenomenon as ‘holier-isolation’.

To put it in simple words, I take the case of few exceptional ‘Indians’. What about those Indians who always suffer from a colonial hangover? I mean, I’ve met and fought with many Indians, residing abroad, who visit India and at every point of their conversations, try to deny any Indianness in them. They’ll go on saying, how ‘Indian mentality’ sucks, how our societal framework is callous, how our leaders are corrupt, how our future is bleak, how ignorant we’re about the ‘real’ happening world and so on!! While talking to them, many ‘wanna-be’ Indians nod their heads and would say, “Sahi hai yaar… hamare yahan toh kuch nehin hone walla hai!!”

So basically, those NRIs are just not Indians while they are in India. Fare enough! But my question is – what changes when they’re abroad? Why, every time, they face any problem abroad, they take the shelter of ‘Indian’ identity? When an Indian student, studying in any 3^rd grade university of the US, UK or Australia comes to India, he just can’t pronounce English in Indian way!!! Many of them pretend that they’ve forgotten Hindi and stamp it as, “Sorry dude, am grossly out-a-touch o’ the Indzian ways, you know!” Cool enough!

But when the same student faces racist attack in Australia, he keeps crying out his ‘Indian-victimhood’.

An Indian will eagerly, if not happily, wash dishes or clean floors in food joints abroad, but India, he/she just go mad of the domestic help, at the drop of the hat!

An Indian will eagerly, if not happily, drive a cab abroad, but in India, he just can’t stand our transportation system!

And Indian girl will go for a strict 9am-11am study-work regime abroad, but in India, she just can’t wake up before 12.

And Indian would eagerly, if not happily, start running every time he/she spots an immigration officer, but in India, he/she will not even bother to wear seatbelt or hell mate!

Personally, I just can’t stand these jerks. I’m proud of my country and this Indian identity. Yes, we’ve many problems, far too many than many other countries. Many of such problems frustrate me to the core, but nevertheless, they never pose a question mark before my love for this country or for everything that is Indian.

I don’t know whether you guys will agree with me, but I request you not to value anyone, however Indian his/her surname is, if that person doesn’t value our (as a matter of fact, his/her) country! And I hate it when Indian newspapers go gaga about any NRI doing great in life abroad. I mean, give me a break. One day, I read all the newspapers saying – TIME magazine says, “Dr. Manmohan Singh has changed the lives of millions in India.” So? Big deal? We know who Dr. Singh is and what his qualities are. We value him in our way. Why do we have to so excited about TIME uttering the words which are already proven a zillion times in India itself? Funny how anything foreign is so sexy to us!!! Typical colonial hangover! 

The latest case in point is Mr. Amartya Sen, who feels ‘sad’ being called an ‘Asian’ on international ground. Ahan, and we value the same Sen-babu as Indian treasure! Is that why we’ve got a headline today which says – “I feel at home when I’m in India – Hillary Clinton” ???! Think about it!

Guys, think about it, in the history of civilizations, we’ll never be able to take FILMFARE to bigger height if Oscar is all we care about! We’ll never be able to make Bharat-Ratna the biggest achievement if Nobel is our limit. We’ll never be able to make National Games the biggest if Olympics is all that we get awed at!

I’m not saying, India is ready to create such History now. But no country gets it on the platter. Everyone earns it. So will we, provided we set out minds on the right track! If the US could do what it has done, if Australia could become what it is now and in Japan could be what it has become, then we could be what we already WERE – the glorious, the oldest, the grandest, the greatest civilization – India!!! Look back in the past, shape the present, future will be ours. But it all starts with the right mind-set!  

Let’s not corrupt our minds in colonial hangover… let’s believe in India and let’s believe in ourselves! Jai Hind!