Don’t blame the nation. It’s all in your mind !

Knowledge of specifics always aids in the right interpretation of facts and making pragmatic judgments (- I just made that up!)

It was an evening of subtle arguments and debates that went over few glasses of beer. On a dull Saturday evening in the North American continent, with the horizon covered with snow bed, the eerie silence that haunted the evening, all I needed was to hear some human noise, which is when I called on few friends to meet up. Consensus led us to a nearby sports bar with a reasonable ambiance for a quick drink.

[Traditionally] as the person who misses his homeland more than the rest, I started my bit of conversation stating "I miss India!". (… Feel the music-"Yeh Jo Des hai tera" from the movie ‘Swades’). I was joined by the rest praising the Indian weather, the family and relatives back home and some sharing their specific experiences during their days in India. These lasted over the first pitcher of beer.

It took a while for an enthusiast in the group to feel the alcohol react in his blood and eventually taking control of his brain, I suppose. He goes on to add the most (obviously) talked about "Problems" with India - “Corruption", "Bad roads" and "Dumb People". The last one was slightly exaggerated by me!

At the spur of the moment, I burst out laughing and I was joined by the rest of my comrades. To set something straight, the laugh was nothing personal on my friend, it was just the topic, which is the most obvious one spoken by many NRI's or potential NRI's who, at the specific moment, would have just started dreaming of a career and life outside of India.

My fellow mate, trying to sound very normal, tried explaining his stand about the conditions in India. You can make a wild guess about the kind of discussions, arguments and statements made during the conversation.

Comparing India to the western world in a positive note, in an attempt to foresee potential growth, can be much appreciated. However, most of the comparisons bear negative tone in it. How can we expect a country diversified in terms of various cultures, religions, beliefs and being the second largest population of the world, and still around 60 years post independence, to be at the same economic and development level as those of the modernized western world? All it requires is some amount of thought process to realize this fact.

India - a country ruled by the British for decades, without a self governance structure in place, having seen the brutality of racism, slavery and a lifestyle filled with fear of internal and external forces, has come a long way in attaining freedom and self governance. With the rulers leaving the nation, India also had to fight through internal politics for decades before it could form a strong government that can at least sustain its national demand for food and growth in terms of economy, military and research & development. It did take the nation appreciable amount of effort to being called a potentially strong economic power of the world.

If we step back for a moment and recall the history, we can trace the stages through which India has traveled to its present state of development:

• The pre-independence movements
• Formation of Indian National Congress
• The post independence era
• Partition of India
• Assassination of powerful leaders
• Formation of stable government
• Border wars with China and Pakistan
• Globalization
• Development and launch of India’s first missile (Prithvi)

Amidst the above events, haven’t we seen significant developments that we have made as a nation?

I don’t deny the fact that lot of control and change is required on the present concerns of "Corruption" and "Infrastructure". Parts of the world with an impressive infrastructure development have taken support from the World Bank (or other powerful nations) to an extent of four or more times their GDP. India stands out of this equation and still have managed to be recognized as a potential powerful nation, maintaining a moderated tax structure for its citizens.

In a western world, you will be surprised to see the level of taxation and the amount one has to spend on insurance (of all sorts). Of course, that is the price you pay for a life of luxury and comfort. India has exempted its citizens from these and hence can consider it as a trade-off. Decision of living in a specific part of the world is a personal choice. However, that should not come with an in-sensitive comparison of the nation with a highly developed nation. Think about this, if one can compare India with a developed country, would it be even close to reality if we compared Ethiopia (or Afghanisthan) with (today's) super power, USA?

All these happened over three pitchers of beer (to the best of my conscious memory as I can recall!). We split around close to midnight with each of us feeling rejuvenated, not because of the beer, rather the fact that we could beat the Saturday evening snow and recall our wonderful days back in India. As one of my friend put's it, "The days when the sky was blue and the grass was green"!