This article might sound controversial. I just hope the Internet supports it – This is a pro-India article and not against the West!
Real patriotism is DEAD-ON-ARRIVAL in India. And the Reasons are:
– Face it. All of India’s money work happens in English language. Corporates work in English. The masses who go to State-Govt Schools dont stand a chance, unless they fight it out massively!
– The unique culture, traditions, architecture of Japan is preserved. So it is in China, South Korea, Russia, Germany, France etc.. because they work in their languages and hence their unique identity and way of life is preserved and not under the onslaught of English language, But being Indian now means being the 51st state of the US! Step aside Canada – you dont get to be the 51st state of the US… India is!
– We are equally up-to-date of the happenings as they happen in the West. Nothing wrong in it. But the fact is we are more aware about the West than the things-that-matter to India! That’s when India loses out and Indians become “International Citizens, not wanting to be Indian”! India’s entire School/ College curriculum is loaded with details of other countries, even our Media is neck deep in the World – In no ther country, so much international content is made to learn by the Students. How is that bad, you may ask? Well, the same time when the content teaches our Students about other countries, the Indian Student opens the history Books which makes him learn that India was not an entity but a geographical place where people come and went! His self-esteem, his sense of pride at being Indian, never gets formed! Compare with the Chinese or the Japanese, the sense of pride which their curriculum instills in their students. Our Education system is creating low-esteem Dolls factory-made for doing jobs and serving other countries!
– There is no reason at all left for the Indian state to promote non-Indians to learn our language and as an extension – our Culture, the sense of what it means to be an Indian! Gone are the days of “White Mughals” (Book by William Dalrymple), when non-Indians looked forward to be Indian.
– More then 50% of the content even on the Topmost Media in India like the Times of India, is about the US! Why are we supposed to know what Elon Musk wrote on X everyday, is beyond my understanding!? Where is the space for Indian heroes, raising everyday issues of India, working for the advancement of India, celebrating Indian wins, motivating Indians for India – The real Heroes of India are sidelined in the madness of English language based Media! Example – To get media visibility, our own homegrown Leaders have to constantly comment on whats happening in US, all the time!
– No writer from the rural belt of from the Towns can aspire to earn Billions as a writer in vernacular languages! Coz the whole market for money-making in Books is dominated by English again. Where is the modern Prem Chand? Ditto in Software… for example a software in Hindi can never earn as much as English one’s or command a heft in the market – They are always fighting the tremendous money power of the Companies which make the English-based products!
– The worst part? The daily-use platforms for Indians all belong to the US. We are using Twitter (X), Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, LinkedIn etc which means the destiny of Indians is in the control of Americans. Their algorithms decide what content comes on top! Do you feel that these platforms are inherently democratic and give a fair chance? Lets do a simple test – Check your Feed.. How many times do you see sponsored content from the US versus content from India? Do remember there are 360 million (36+ crore) Indians on Insta alone, as a statistic! The Chinese created their own platforms like Baidu and WeChat for a reason – to make it a free playground for the Chinese, to suit Chinese sensitivities and have the data of the Chinese people within the country! India.. sadly.. took the easy route .. of outsourcing our platforms to the Americans! And the reason is that we feel affinity to the Americans because we work in the English language ourselves! But the damage it causes.. mindless!
– After the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk, everyone on Twitter is shown his Tweets, no matter whether you followed or subscribed him or not! X (Twitter), today is essentially a Bugle of Elon! What does that tell you about using X as a foreign platform?
– Google and Meta are the Top 2 highest earning Media platforms in India! Whats wrong with it? Ask a homegrown Media Company of their pain and then you will know!
– Today, for a creator in India, YouTube is the Boss! Their destiny depends on the YouTube alogorithm. And YouTube decides which content to promote and which to block. Try to make right-wing content on India and see if YouTube gives you equal space! You will know what I am talking about
– Just look at the e-commerce sector in India. It is dominated by American companies – Amazon and Flipkart (Wallmart). They charge you 25-30% listing fees, make commissions on each sale, they decide which product comes on top in search results, in fact they charge you extra for coming on top in results! And worst part? They have the data on the products acceptance by Customers. So, once they get to know the hit products, they create their own and put them on top in the search results! Thereby the Indian industry is effectively getting killed!
– Look at Coke and Pepsi. Just why did we hand over the entire Soft drinks market to these American companies? They came in and bought out the only Brands we had like Limca and Thumbs up. A Rs. 10 paisa liquid which has 11 spoons of sugar, sells for Rs 20 and they take out the entire profits from India! Why?
– The Indian Cities, Towns all look like poor imitations of the West. People visit Japan to see its unique architecture, Monastaries and what not. Tourists are delighted to see Russian Orthodox cathedrals, Taoist temples in China, Dubai mosques – all carrying a sense of being unique and local. But Indians have lost the sense of creating cities in our unique architecture. Instead, we have the same high rise buildings made in glass and not having any signature of being India. Its sad because our old Temples are all totally splendid testaments to our original, majestic past
– To get millions of Tourists, a country has to compete with other Countries. A foreign Tourist, when he travels for Business or Tourism, wants to get entertained. After close of Business, a Traveler to China or South East Asia will go to a burstling market, get a drink or so, party with locals and want to have fun. Business cities like Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai make sure they have enough facilities for the Traveler to splurge and enjoy himself on the trip. But India doesnt have much of these. Stifling laws means Pubs cant serve liquor late and there are no concentrated places where Tourists can have fun late in the night. Mostly, one has to go to costly Bars in 5 Star Hotels which are too costly and dont deliver the total experience
– The Big cities do have some areas for fun and frolic but what about if you go to the Towns? Mostly you will get some restaurants or some small Malls, or a Zoo or a Park, but nothing beyond that for pure entertainment! Such is the status of India’s Municipal Corporations and Development Agencies! Why cant each Town be made to have entertainment facilities like Cyber Hub (Gurgaon), Aerocity (Delhi), Sentosa (Singapore) or Atlantis (Dubai), top-end and money guzzling Nature Parks like Serengeti (and not like Rs. 10/- entry Nature reserves in India which are devoid of facilities), Dubai Marina like Boating places with top end Yachts etc, spiritual places with top Infra like the Monastries of Thailand, Shrines of Japan (Check out the Tian Tan Buddha in Hong Kong)?
– China has deeply integrated itself with South East Asia, South Korea, Japan, Central Asia and all the regions in its neighbourhood. Even in physical connectivity, a Chinese can go by road or rail to all neighbouring countries. China’s Belt-and-Road corridor gives it totally free connectivity with railway lines, optic fibre lines, oil pipelines, roads and what not. But India? India is an island my Friends! An Indian cant travel by road to any of its neighbours! Pakistan has blocked access to the West, China has blocked access to Tibet in the North, Myanmar to the East has infighting going on, even Sri Lanka never allowed a bridge across the Palk Strait of only 31 km! Compare it with the longest bridge over an ocean – The Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in China, which is 164.8 kilometers (102.4 miles) long and crosses the Yangtze River Delta. India is a forced Island and we Indians have to take costly flights to go to other countries thus making us live in an artificial island
– China has been trying to integrate its Banking systems on distributed Ledger with the South-East Asian countries and the Middle-East without bothering about what the West will think or do. It has created its own CIPS, a banking system using the digital Yuan to settle inter-Bank trade, which wants to throw the West-led SWIFT system away. A lightning fast system which will leave SWIFT behind. Meanwhile, India is still looking up to the West for everything inspite of having all the Technology!
The essence of being an Indian, of our own, unique identity, is getting lost. Thats one reason why only 10 million Tourists come to India the entire year! Why will they come to see us when our Cities look like a poor imitation of the West? When we see ourselves as Brown Englishmen because evey important things happens in English!
The Worst part about all of the above? India is a follower of the West and looks up to the West for everything. We never look within and see that we have everything. We are fully equipped. The day we breakout on our own like China, that day will truly bring us our Golden age!
But India must be prepared. The moment we try to be truly independent – that very moment, the US, Chinese, UK, European countries will swoop down on Pakistan and start making it strong again so that India can be boxed in South Asia as always. India’s 90% resources are tied up to deal with Pakistan and the West and China will always like to keep it that way. No one likes a new Leader on the block. Deng Xiaoping said to the Chinese – “Hide your strength and Bide your time” – telling them to grow strong silently. And the Chinese did exactly that from $2 Trillion GDP economy to $20 Trillion economy. India will not get such a luxury! Because even after we have grown from $2 Trillion GDP to $4 Trillion GDP under Modi, the Chinese and the West are already flexing their muscles. China has armed Pakistan to the teeth and US is signing blank cheques from the IMF for them regularly!
There is hardly any consciousness in India that what we are losing out by not being India!
I leave all of the above thoughts for you to think with your conscience and decide if India will, forever, be a tail of the West or truly be our own Country!
