Friday, November 28, 2008

Will the REAL Indians please stand up ???

I have so much to say but its not all pretty. I love my city Bombay and will say the truth. Hopefully I am not accused of being too harsh like the Americans who criticized the Bush policy and are accused of being non-patriotic.

What a mess Bombay [and India] is !! Corrupt and the most selfish of politicians. And who really needs to take the blame for this ? The Indian people of course. We vote and keep them in power. By the way what about the rich business houses and the mega celebrities. How much money do they need to make before they think about something else but their egos and wealth. People in the US for example also make money, but at least they take an ACTIVE stance to get the right person to lead the country - Obama. What is India coming to …not that we actually have EVER had a true selfless politician. Its just absolute crap that in the 21st century we cannot get up from our narrow-mindedness and need to self-gratify our egos by making more money for the most part [and thus buying more than our next-door neighbors]. I know sounds harsh but honestly. We have Bollywood celebrities who are known to pal around with the underworld for their movies to be financed. And of course thus they cannot afford to take the most proactive role to talk about these attacks. Then you have the rich folks in India. We have a businessman that makes a 40 story building with 2500 servants and his 50 cars who has all the power in the country. What does he do to improve the state of leadership in India?? Nothing !!

Its just incredible. We are a hardworking country but leave too much to faith and GOD. However, since we are so paralyzed to get any TRUE leadership elected in the nation, we can play second fiddle to China. And no pont calling us the largest democracy when the people who are voting are not educated or really making the right choice. And we can convince ourselves that everything will be alright and that our economy is one of the fastest growing, but that is just self-denial. We are so far behind on so many important counts - infrastructure, education for the masses, poverty and health [the AIDs bomb ticking away]. And all this is to really blame on the screwed up political parties we have. Really guys and girls please wake up and start accepting this or nothing good is going to come out of this tragic terrorist attacks. I mean talking about how resilient we are and as I am hearing Sushil Jiwarajka talk how well our stock market has fared today!! Is this really a barometer of what just happened ??? You know we can accept all this and talk up ourselves [and I accept that optimism is good], but come on!! Not to make light of this situation, but we are in desperate need of the help being extended by Interpol and the FBI to get this tragedy properly investigated.

And with no disrespect but Manmohan Singh speaking like a immobile puppet is not going to really scare these militants - don’t fool yourself that it will. The people on international TV are talking about our resilience but trust me they are trying to be polite and sympathetic. If this was their country, they would do something much more pragmatic. PLEASE tell me they are some if not a lot of my Bombayites who agree with my harsh criticism here ??

By the way I am very upset by the innocent lives that have been lost in these attacks, and it is this anger that I am tempering and trying to reach out to the bigger picture here. That when as a city [and a country] do we wish to wake up. Sure we can denounce the attacks, investigate, pray for the injured, etc But the real important thing is when do we as a country stand up to improve the nation as a whole. And when does one big name [be it in business or Bollywood - cause they are the only voices that are really loud enough to get heard in society] stand up for something that is right [and take a break from making their next crore of ruppees] ???

Problem is how we get the majority of India to wake up ?? I can understand the below average income earner. But the tragedy lies in our upper class and middle class as well. They do not want to see the bigger picture … they are happy with their ego-gratifying lifestyle UNTIL they have to pay the price … and sadly enough the 4 terrorist attacks in India this year will lay the foundation for the terrorists accepting that India is easy prey. You see India ultimately is born from the great Mahatma Gandhi - epitome of non-violence and tolerance. Nothing wrong as long as the leadership at the top is strong and LOYAL to the country. However, you cannot find a single political-associated person that honestly CARES for the nation. Don’t let all the Sonia Gandhis et al fool you … they care about their power trip. Sad and I do not know whether we have enough intelligentsia to actually get out of this Black Hole. Do not kid yourself that just because we are the largest democracy we shall be fine!! No sir … that’s exactly the lull which serves to stunt our potential growth.