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What
is our assessment of the Readers Write section
of PD? Is it a dining room table across which we
sit and discuss “ghar ki baat” with “ghar ke
log” in the privacy of our “ghar”? Thanks to the
PD team, this forum seems to be our own and we
are tempted to think that we are only in the
company of “ghar ke log” and we open our hearts
out often exaggerating our anguishes suffered in
our beloved motherland for impact.
We do not speak of the deteriorating law and
order in other countries around the world and
then look at the Indian condition in comparison.
As pointed out by one of the readers, If I am
out of Bihar I can enjoy Bihar bashing and if I
am out of India I can enjoy India bashing. We
automatically become know-all consultants with
quick fix remedies for all maladies even if, as
is the case most of the time, we are not fully
aware of the prevailing situation on the ground.
If we had all the solutions we should have
stayed back fixed the system and become great
for it. Here we say what could I have done alone
against the system? The system is made up of you
and me. I am happy more and more educated
Indians are staying on to fight “the system”
now.
Coming back to our “ghar ki baat” with “ghar ke
log” on the “ghar ka website”. Thanks to the
modern day search engines, PD is read by a great
number of foreigners. Very few of them respond
as the topics specific to India are alien to
them and they do not want to hurt our sentiments
in any possible way. But still they read the
articles with the interest of an explorer who is
exploring a new land. You must have noticed them
surfacing when I wrote on broader issues like
environmental degradation and the way the world
was headed. Then there was the ludicrous
incident when Bihar was being painted black over
a crime news and a foreign reporter surfaced
with a desire to come over to this stone age
land with the interest of covering something
akin to the Jurassic Park. Immediately, the tone
and tenor of the discussion changed “desh bhakti
and state bhakti” flooded the critics and he was
promptly shooed away. So they are there, the
unseen eyes, reading our words and arriving at
their own conclusions of the distant land India,
which they had once thought was populated only
by snake charmers and semi-naked men herding
cattle.
If a negative impression is created, who are the
people affected most? The people who are in
contact with the foreigners that is the NRIs and
their kids. The desis are far away and they care
little about the impressions created. Still we
find that many NRIs paint the picture of a false
all black India – a land of naked starving
people who are cheap labor for the world. In
this self-congratulation for having abandoned
their rotten country, they forget that no one
from a poor, ruinous country is welcome in a
better society. They are regarded as people who
have fled their country after ruining it.
My appeal to the ever so critical NRIs, who shy
away from giving India the credit it deserves
for making rapid progress in the last sixty
years, is that please do not become Kalidas and
cut the branch you sit on. You are doing a
disservice to yourself and your kids. I respect
your expectations and anxieties for our
motherland but we must tone down our rhetoric
considering practical limitations and the
condition around the world. See the bright side
of a rising India and sometimes write about that
too.
The world runs on propaganda. You can call a dog
mad and shoot it. Poor Saddam was painted black
and was overthrown from power as it was drummed
around that he is hiding WMDs. When no WMDs were
found other stories of torture were circulated.
Do we hear about the torture and atrocities in
the other dictator-governed countries which are
friends in the war against terror? No. There the
dictators are nice, just people doing everything
good.
What kind of propaganda are you creating for
India? In the ultimate analysis it will be “Mia
ki jooti, Mia ke sar.”
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Comments: |
Rajesh ji, guest is treated as God
in India. After hearing recent
incidences such as: "A fast track
court in Alwar has sentenced Bitti
Mohanty, accused of raping a German
student in March, to seven years
rigorous imprisonment and a fine of
Rs 10,000. On May 11, 2005, a
47-year-old German tourist was
abducted, raped, and robbed by two
auto-rickshaw drivers in Jodhpur."
Don't you think, it is our duty to
alert the guests and help them
securing their lives on visit to
India? Or, should we keep them in
dark, solely with positive images of
India. Cautioning the people is not
propaganda but patriotism.
With this forum, I further warn
people not to allow any other person
than driver in the taxi. Sometimes,
after driving few kilometers,
driver, request you to lift his
friend next to his seat. For the
sake of humanity, if you allow it,
then there is high probability to
get raped or robbed.
You had questioned about actual
implementation than to shout. In my
view, creating awareness is not a
slogan, but actual implementation
and we cannot do more than this,
because I am neither a politician
nor a bureaucrat. Being an ordinary
citizen, I know my limitations.
Regarding helping people monetarily,
how did you conclude that readers of
Patna Daily are not doing this? Do
you need us to publish our efforts?
One reader of PD has given us the
example of how Keralites brands
Kerala. Don't you think we Biharis
also brand Bihar? Wherever we go, we
say, we are from the land of Ganga,
Buddha, Mahavir, Ashoka, Nalanda
etc. There should not be any doubt
on this.
For me, the Ghar is humanity and
irrespective of regional barriers we
should impel our best, without
double thoughts to secure it from
the social evils. Like the whole
world is united against Global
terrorism, the fight should extend
to Global social evils with coherent
efforts of awareness and dealt. -
Tarakeswar Dubey - Apr. 13, 2006
Dubeyji, nice to know Bihar and
India are getting good propaganda
the world over though I hardly see
any of it here on PD. It is also
great to know that all those
pathetic ideas of Bihar having gone
to the dogs, India being the
supplier of cheap labor and all
those incidents of mugging and
raping are positive propaganda with
the sole purpose of advising
foreigners regarding points of
caution when they visit India.
Indians go to foreign lands with
rosy pictures and end up having
their luggage snatched, mugged and
looted too. Many face racism. Two of
my friends have had their briefcases
snatched and one was made to stand
on knife point in a secluded spot
and watch while a couple of
foreigners made love in front of
him. After the act he was informed
that he was a black dog and that
they (the foreigners) had no
inhibitions in front of dogs. The
poor fellow shivers when he narrates
it even today. Another gentlemen was
threatened in a restaurant for being
an intruder in the country by skin
heads and had the presence of mind
to take out dollars from his pocket
and say "I am a visitor here and
have come to spend these in your
land." He was spared. Then there was
the person from India who had his
jaw broken and belongings robbed.
Poor fellow was hospitalized there
and had great difficulty in settling
bills. "People like you..." episode
happen everywhere. These are a few
incidents which pop up in my mind
now.
As Indians become more affluent and
travel becomes cheaper with every
passing day, a large number of our
country men are travelling to
foreign lands. I have never seen a
word of advice on PD from NRIs to
their own countrymen so as how to
protect themselves and what bad
things to expect when they go
abroad. We Indians are one supposed
to be one large family. I think we
have that responsibility too and at
a higher priority. - Rajesh
Chaubey - Apr. 13, 2006
Kapo was a term used for certain
prisoners who worked inside the Nazi
Concentration Camps during World War
II. The name stood for
Kameradenpolizei, "comrade police",
and referred to prisoners who have
been recruited by their captors to
police their fellow prisoners. They
received more privileges than normal
prisoners, towards whom they were
often brutal.
Their tasks included transporting
victims of gassing to the ovens,
cleaning the gas chambers of human
excrement and blood, removal of gold
from the teeth of the victims and
shaving the heads of those going to
the gas chambers. Kapos were given
special privileges within the
concentration camps, but were seen
as betraying their fellow prisoners
for personal gain.
Indians too have suffered from the
Kapo mentality. The British used
Indians to brutalize other Indians.
Today we have people of the same
Kapo mentality out to brutalize the
image of India and Indians in the
eyes of the world as they are
receiving more privileges elsewhere.
They are unwilling to spend anything
in terms of time, energy or money
for improving India. Yet showing
mock concern, in the garb of raising
points for improvement, they are
always critical about India and
Indians. They see nothing good and
no appreciation can come out of
them. They pride themselves in not
having traits of Indians. Some see
India only as cheap labor supplier.
Ask them to speak of ten bad things
about the lands they have adopted
and the Kapos get tongue tied. Don't
ask them and still they will
highlight a hundred bad things about
India.
They fail to realize that they can
not have a good image in the world
unless they create a good image for
India. - Rajesh Chaubey - Apr.
15, 2006 |
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