Pride and Prejudice

Pride has always been an innate part of a human psyche. We have most times (more wrong than right) prided ourselves at the most diverse of our achievements. Prejudice similarly has more often than not accompanied pride. Jane Austen wrote a literary masterpiece about a family afflicted with it. Oliver Goldsmith wrote an essay highlighting it’s drawbacks among people of various nationalities. The purpose of this post is not to talk about Ms. Austen’s work. Neither am I reviewing Gurindhar Chadda’s latest venture by the almost the same name (there’s the letter ‘B’ replacing a ‘P’). This is more about our great tendency to claim pride in being a citizen of a particular nationality. Or to hit the nail straight on its head, this is about our amazing concept of desh bakthi. There is certainly no greater feeling than that of Nationalism and Patriotism. We all feel good that we are part of a great Country laden with cultural history. We claim that we are the mother of all civilizations. But how much of it is more prejudice and less pride. Let’s sample a few.....

We are proud each time we defeat another team in cricket but completely ignore the fact that our football and tennis teams get defeated by miniscule nations. We are proud that we have been world beaters at Hockey but ignore the fact that now every team that knows how to hold a stick beats us all ends up. We beam with pride when a Major Rathore wins us an Olympic medal but forget that this was the first silver medal ever won by Independent India. We were proud when a Lagaan got nominated to the Oscars but ignore the fact that a war ravaged country like Bosnia makes more internationally acclaimed movies than us. We are proud that we are a nuclear state today but shut over eyes at our inability to even manage a gas leak at Bhopal let alone a nuclear accident. We take pride in the fact that we have the finest finishing schools in our IIMs and IITs but forget that 90% of people passing out rush abroad to a life of wealth and ease. We take pride each time a newspaper counts the number of billionaires in our country but rarely care about the hundreds of millions of our countrymen who cannot afford two meals a day. We take pride in proclaiming Kashmir as the Switzerland of the east but care a damn for the near death living conditions of the Kashmiris. We take pride in announcing that we are united in diversity but forget that there have been over a thousand communal riots in the past couple of years. We claim with pride that we won our Independence through non-violence but forget the thousands who lost their lives in the aftermath of partition. We are proud about the fact that our army is among the largest in the world but forget that every thing required by our soldiers from their shoes to coffins have to be purchased at unimaginable prices abroad. We take pride at our great history and culture but conveniently ignore the massacre of our children’s education at the whims and fancies of people who go to the extent of changing history to capture an extra few votes. We are proud of our diverse cultures often claiming that the seven sisters of the north east represent the true Indian diversity, but never worry about the fact that these seven states are distanced so much from the mainstream India, that they feel ashamed about being called part of this great nation. We are proud of................
Should I go any further?????????

So who do we blame for this drastic tragedy? Is it our so called leaders who should have guided us and led the way during the last 57 years? Why do we have school dropouts becoming ministers and highly qualified IAS officers being forced to lick their boots to ensure survival? Why do we force people to stop working after a particular age but let the politicians hold onto their precious seats right into their death bed. Why do we have people who clinically manage world class corporates but also people in power who strangle their own country? Why do we bear with this after all? Is it we, the citizens of this great nation that need to be blamed for choosing our own end at the hands of some wimps who assume enormous power in the name of mandate. As I write this with a true sense of patriotism, I wonder aloud, if this is of any use at all. Does me writing all this serve this country in any small means. Wouldn’t it be wiser to use the same time to put into action those things that are in words? The problem as I realize lies in the very fact that like any true Indian, I’m more of a preacher than a follower. And I guess that is exactly the problem with all of us. I have had my time priding on every aspect of being an Indian and now I realize that it’s only prejudice and not pride. I only wish that all of us realize this sooner than later, for we all know that "Pride always goes before a fall"......