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"Shining India, Swaggering India" - Times of India

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Sorry I know that Times of India is not considered a valid source here, but this article is a very good read for fellow Indians on how we have become carried away and arrogant with our (very little) success.

Shining India, swaggering India

Sidharth Bhatia | May 23, 2012, 12.00AM IST


Rage is the dominant emotion in India today. Not the rage of the underpri-vileged, of the indigent, of Les Miserables who see no hope in this glittering nation - but that of the privileged and the powerful. Politician rage, film actor rage, celebrity rage, each one expressing an impatience with rules, laws, conventions.

Road rage, a quotidian occurrence on our streets, does not come from the auto-rickshaw driver but from the SUV owner who cannot fathom why a pedestrian would want to cross at a green light. At the other end, a high-flying industrialist is angry that the government, the media and perhaps even passengers have somehow let him and his airline down. That his business model could be flawed does not occur to him and the question of apologising toshareholders and customers is farthest from his mind.

The Indian Premier League, that fiery cocktail of big money and low sleaze has offered up many examples of such fury. Cricketers, mindful of the high expectations engendered by their high salaries, have kicked stumps, threatened rivals and wagged their fingers at umpires. The glamorous and influential franchise owners, fully aware that they have paid top dollar for the teams and therefore subject to no rules or conventions, strut about the stadium, leaving no doubt who is the boss. Why should they listen to a small-time security guard when they don't care two hoots about the mandarins who run the game? The wrath then is directed at the petty employee; there is nary an admission, let alone an apology that perhaps the matter went too far and could have been handled with dignity.

Another celebrity, famous only for being his father's son and the escort of an actress, gets het up when the media asks him about a sexual harassment case involving one of his franchise's players. A party girl daring to blame a cricketer for making passes? Let us rubbish her on Twitter, in the most demeaning way possible. Where at one time there would have been bland assurances of "looking into the matter", now there is a direct attack on the girl's reputation and on the media for bringing it up. The girl has dared raise her voice against a cricketer and by implication the powerful people who own him, so she must be squashed. What more can be expected from someone who uses the social media to rubbish complaints made by passengers?

Time was when politicians showed humility, even if fake and contrived, to the public, fully conscious of the optics of the folded hands. Today, a chief minister walks off in a huff when her constituents ask questions that she finds inconvenient. And then sends cops to check out the antecedents of the questioners, who are college students. Her message is unambiguous: I am powerful and, therefore, can do whatever i want to you serfs.

Such messages, coming from those who are in public life and should be role models of civility, filter down rapidly. The signal is unambiguous: power allows you to strut and squash anyone who is beneath you. More money, better job, bigger car are all markers of influence and muscle, which must be deployed to show the lower orders their place. To these superior beings, the ordinary laws do not apply. VIPs of all hues, for example, do not believe in queues of any kind. How often do we see this sense of entitlement being played out at airports, where the great and the good breeze past security? Body checks and boring lines at immigration are not for them.

The bizarre part is that we, as citizens of a democratic country, freely accept and even justify such feudal inequality. After Shah Rukh Khan, who finds it difficult to keep his temper in check in India, was held up for questioning at an American airport, many Indians were outraged because a cele-brity was treated in this manner. It did not occur to them that for an American customs official, there are no exceptions, only the rules that must be followed. We quietly and happily submit to the Indian way of doing things, which is to have a different set of rules for VIPs; there our sense of rage deserts us.

The rising rage is directly related to our increasing lack of civility. Sorry seems to be a word that has disappeared from our lexicon. When common courtesies, such as holding the door open for someone behind you, vanish, a society is well on the road to boorishness and eventually rage. Good manners are the bedrock of civilised social transactions; are we a good-mannered people?

India has not handled its success well. Instead of the greater responsibility that should come with greater power and wealth, we have chosen to swagger. We take grave offence at the most innocuous of comments. We cannot stand anyone making fun of our foibles or our accent. We are ready to use our diplomatic resources if some advertisement in a far away country spoofs our ways. The world is laughing at our pompousness and this makes us more furious.

The sorriest part of this is that our rage is turned against those who cannot defend themselves. And those at the bottom of the social pyramid, who suffer the most inequity and therefore have some justification to be angry, are expected to meekly surrender. What will happen if one day they start showing their rage?



Source: Shining India, swaggering India - The Times of India


One of the top comments on this article which I agree with:

You my friend, have most eloquently described the Indian mindset. A fleeting little success and too many of us just became way too arrogant. "We will be the superpower", "We are the best", "India shining", and so on and so on, you get the point. You aptly put, Indians have not handled their (minor) success well. Yes, we have become the laughing stock of the world. It is only in our minds that we are the best. Just because we can whip up a half decent computer program on the cheap, doesn't make it so. BTW, there are others in the world who can do same thing - even better, it is and always has been PRICE difference. Indian prices are rising fast and it is not too far when it is at par with other economies. Soon enough the price advantage goes away, better have a plan B to keep 1/2 a billion young people occupied. Now that they have tasted a better life, a whole bunch of them will be very unhappy when the economic opportunities dwindle.
 
india was built on a ponzi scheme economy and now the ponzi scheme is collapsing.

currency is collapsing.

indians are the first to laugh at others but they are the most backward and primitive of people.
 
This video below, describes the mind-set perfectly.

This is a video clip from a recent Indian movie, in which India apparently has a lot of "white servants" and "white beggars" all over the place. Pay special attention to 2:15 in the clip, in which there are several white American teenage girls begging on the streets of India, begging the rich Indians to give them a few rupees.

India In 2030 - YouTube
 
With half the Populace below Poverty Line, there is not much cause to SWAGGER.

half? HALF? :rofl:

its more like 90% below the poverty line in india.

india has more poverty than africa, that is a fact.

india is the poorest regime on earth, its people are dirt poor, its regime is now bankrupt with so much debt its currency is collapsing and india is about 6 months away from seeing hyper inflation.
 
india is the poorest regime on earth, its people are dirt poor, its regime is now bankrupt with so much debt its currency is collapsing and india is about 6 months away from seeing hyper inflation.

That's why the Indians are always looking down on and insulting China and Pakistan.

It's extreme insecurity and paranoia.
 
half? HALF? :rofl:

its more like 90% below the poverty line in india.

india has more poverty than africa, that is a fact.

india is the poorest regime on earth, its people are dirt poor, its regime is now bankrupt with so much debt its currency is collapsing and india is about 6 months away from seeing hyper inflation.
NICE JOE CHIENCE TALKING ABOUT INDIAN POVERTY:hitwall:
13china.600.jpg

Li Enlan at her home in Yangmiao, a village in Henan Province in China. “We eat somehow, but it’s never enough,” she said.
2007-10-5-poverty73511291.jpg

China's Rural Poverty Line Far Below International Standard - An elderly Chinese woMan collects scraps of wood for cooking, near the Yangtze river city of Jiujiang
rich-and-poor-divide-in-china.jpg

According to a research report, 90 percent of China’s billionaires are children of senior officials
:china:
 
NICE JOE CHIENCE TALKING ABOUT INDIAN POVERTY:hitwall:
13china.600.jpg

Li Enlan at her home in Yangmiao, a village in Henan Province in China. “We eat somehow, but it’s never enough,” she said.
2007-10-5-poverty73511291.jpg

China's Rural Poverty Line Far Below International Standard - An elderly Chinese woMan collects scraps of wood for cooking, near the Yangtze river city of Jiujiang
rich-and-poor-divide-in-china.jpg

According to a research report, 90 percent of China’s billionaires are children of senior officials
:china:

Let the Chinese and Pakistanis do their usual off-topic rants / trolling, thats what they do. Don't sink to their level. Talk on the topic I have addressed.
 
Sorry I know that Times of India is not considered a valid source here, but this article is a very good read for fellow Indians on how we have become carried away and arrogant with our (very little) success.

Shining India, swaggering India

Sidharth Bhatia | May 23, 2012, 12.00AM IST


Rage is the dominant emotion in India today. Not the rage of the underpri-vileged, of the indigent, of Les Miserables who see no hope in this glittering nation - but that of the privileged and the powerful. Politician rage, film actor rage, celebrity rage, each one expressing an impatience with rules, laws, conventions.

Source: Shining India, swaggering India - The Times of India


One of the top comments on this article which I agree with:

You my friend, have most eloquently described the Indian mindset. A fleeting little success and too many of us just became way too arrogant. "We will be the superpower", "We are the best", "India shining", and so on and so on, you get the point. You aptly put, Indians have not handled their (minor) success well. Yes, we have become the laughing stock of the world. It is only in our minds that we are the best. Just because we can whip up a half decent computer program on the cheap, doesn't make it so. BTW, there are others in the world who can do same thing - even better, it is and always has been PRICE difference. Indian prices are rising fast and it is not too far when it is at par with other economies. Soon enough the price advantage goes away, better have a plan B to keep 1/2 a billion young people occupied. Now that they have tasted a better life, a whole bunch of them will be very unhappy when the economic opportunities dwindle.

I deleted most of the article in the repost due to length and just bolded the part I wanted to draw attention to. I've seen that rising arrogance amongst the Indian expats and guest workers here myself. One actually went so far as to tell me "We are here because Singapore needs us. We are better for these jobs than anyone else. India is the leader in IT"

Our response is "No. Let's not even compare India and Singapore. You are here only because those companies rather slash their costs by 2/3 and pay way less for you guys than what they would for a Singaporean."

Just stop trying to lord over others based on your recent success guys, which hasn't been much anyway. I know you fired some missile somewhere and that made news, quite a few other military achievements too. But your HDI ranking is real low and any kind of comparison with the genuine Asian success stories like China, Taiwan or Singapore is pointless. You can be cocky, I'm not saying no, but stick to the Pinoys or even the Indonesians if u want please. Don't try it with those who are better, ESPECIALLY if you are going to their country to earn a living. I hope Indians do realize this and wake up if they wish to see themselves play a bigger role on the global scale.
 
The video I posted, was 100% in line with the thread topic.

I urge everyone here to watch it at least once, it strongly backs up the point made by the article in the OP.

LMAO I just did!!! :partay:

Oh my god! Is that what u guys really think about your country?!! Totally hilarious! Wake up and smell the coffee pls, forget the West, first try earning the respect of fellow Asians. Why bother looking outside the continent when 1/2 the countries in Asia are still better?

That's why the Indians are always looking down on and insulting China and Pakistan.

It's extreme insecurity and paranoia.

They insult us too, and worst part is they do it even more AFTER they get here and while depending on us for a living. Bite the hand that feeds u.....
 
I deleted most of the article in the repost due to length and just bolded the part I wanted to draw attention to. I've seen that rising arrogance amongst the Indian expats and guest workers here myself. One actually went so far as to tell me "We are here because Singapore needs us. We are better for these jobs than anyone else. India is the leader in IT"

Our response is "No. Let's not even compare India and Singapore. You are here only because those companies rather slash their costs by 2/3 and pay way less for you guys than what they would for a Singaporean."

Just stop trying to lord over others based on your recent success guys, which hasn't been much anyway. I know you fired some missile somewhere and that made news, quite a few other military achievements too. But your HDI ranking is real low and any kind of comparison with the genuine Asian success stories like China, Taiwan or Singapore is pointless. You can be cocky, I'm not saying no, but stick to the Pinoys or even the Indonesians if u want please. Don't try it with those who are better, ESPECIALLY if you are going to their country to earn a living. I hope Indians do realize this and wake up if they wish to see themselves play a bigger role on the global scale.

Very honest response. Unfortunately, the Indian mindset is already that of the video that CD posted above. The Indians that would read and accept what you said here are few and far in between. Especially now that India's economy is about to tank.
 
Really? How do they insult Singapore, a much wealthier, cleaner, safer, and more civilized country?

LMAO I just did!!! :partay:

Oh my god! Is that what u guys really think about your country?!! Totally hilarious! Wake up and smell the coffee pls, forget the West, first try earning the respect of fellow Asians. Why bother looking outside the continent when 1/2 the countries in Asia are still better?



They insult us too, and worst part is they do it even more AFTER they get here and while depending on us for a living. Bite the hand that feeds u.....
 
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