India is a very unique country. If history would have taken another course then I wouldn’t have been here today. Maybe I would be getting many privileges that my neighbouring kingdoms are getting today. Entry into the UN and other international organisations would have become a tad easier than it is right now. Still I’m not complaining which brings me back to my starting line. You never know what to expect.
If a certain political wing goes around boycotting something as trivial as Valentines Day, it is a two minute bulletin in the news channel. But if a Richard Gere kisses a Shilpa Shetty then it is breaking news. It’s my personal opinion that just like Americans think they are the saviours of the world (as has been shown in all the Hollywood movies till date), Indians definitely feel that they are the holders of the diminishing moral values of the world. If these so called moral police really care then where do they disappear when a minor girl is raped? When some female is molested? When self declared studs, who roam the streets in their bikes or black tinted cars, tease girls or pass comments? That’s when we need them the most and, needless to say, that’s when they choose to stay quiet.
Another unique thing about this country is the prevalence of matrimonial advertisements. I think this is the only country where every daily has a specific day, and a whole 8 pages, dedicated to matrimonials. Correct me if I am wrong. Look carefully and you find almost everyone is looking for the perfect bride. They want a tall, fair, educated, beautiful, high caste (not always a necessity) girl. And we say that this is the 21st century where things have progressed and we are celebrating sixty years of freedom!
Men are dogs. Yes this is my next observation. Everybody needs to relieve themselves every hour or so. Females, no matter what, always manage to cling on to their last breath, to reach the privacy of a toilet before such an act. Men, on the other hand, provide us with a nice scenery, and smell, at all times. Some of you would say well females can’t possibly perform such an act in public so I ask you this- What about men in other countries?? How come they are able to act civilized despite the same urge? Hence the comparison with a dog. Like any stray dog, men in this country look left and then right and when the coast is clear they relieve themselves.
Today while coming in the bus I asked a young man in his early 30s to get up and give the seat to an old lady standing next to him. He looked up, saw ladies seat written on the top half of the bus and pointed at the man in front of him and told her to ask him. I was appalled and insisted he offer his seat. He didn’t budge. But the moment some random man said that it is definitely ladies seat, he just got up. Not a word of protest popped out. Power issue?? I’m not saying that men are always rude. Once I did come across a whole compartment of chivalrous gentlemen in the metro who got up to offer seats to old people, women with children etc. but such moments come in bits or pieces. What remains dominant is also what stays forever sketched in the mind.
Still these are the very instances that make India. If it weren’t for these situations we wouldn’t be the hard nuts we are right now. They say that if you can survive in this country then you can survive anywhere in the world. With 28 states, 7 union territories, 17 languages, 844 dialects, 6 major religions and many more.. there is so much left to discover. Despite its diversity, the country still manages to stay as one and on this note I would like to end this journal.
Happy Independence day to all.
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