The brighter side of India

The brighter side of India

Everyday, we run into forwards with pictures, extolling the brighter side of India. The theme invariably being the same…."there is so much good and progressive in our country so why look at the negatives all the time”. Well, that’s not bad. But the problem is that we don’t want to look at the negatives. To the extent that we tend to ignore, discount and mostly brush it off.

Unfortunately, in reality, it is precisely this kind of attitude which seeks to hide the truth. Undoubtedly, there is lot of good in our country. Lets’ be proud of that. But let’s be ashmed about what’s not so good. Or rather abysmal.

Consider:

An average European village has better infrastructure than an avearge Indian big city.

As for cleanliness, while we have to search hard for a clean finished (most places in Indian cities do look half-finished) part in Indian cities, it’s much more difficult to find a dirty place in a city in other parts of the world, not merely Europe or US but in Korea, China, Turkey or any other significant country.

Look at our road traffic. Even in the most disciplined parts of a city, or indeed the country, the road signs are a joke and we , of course, make them look like a bigger joke. A simple example. Even in the best of our roads or highways, has lane driving got any meaning.   That, unfortunately, is the truth, irrespective of all the Bandra-Kurla sea link or Yamuna expressway pictures.

I need to write much more on this. The idea is not just to write. I do wish that, eventually, we do have a good discussion on our ‘circle of influence’ after lamenting on the ‘circle of concern’