A few things India should learn from the US Part II - Good stuff
When you first meet Americans, most folks make some observations - some of those may be true, some perceived. After staying in the country for 16 years, here are some of mine. These are the lessons India could learn from the US.
- An American is an American, first and always. Perhaps after a while you notice that accents, customs and traditions differ region to region. But Americans, the vast majority are just Americans and are most proud of that fact. No body identifies themselves as a Kentuckian, a Missourian, a Seattle-er, or a New Yorker (ok that last one was a bad example), but they know what the differences are. There is something incredibly humbling and unifying in that notion. The individual good need not be sacrificed for the larger one. Why can't India think like this?
- It is possible to be proud of your nationality, without being overly so. Americans personify this in most day-day interactions. India needs a way to be proud once again of its nationality, and citizens do as well. (I will be doing so, when I claim OCI or dual-citizenship status). India must be a union or a republic foremost, not a loose confederation bound by cricket, IT and movies.
- America's language is English. You are required to speak it, read/write it when appearing for naturalization. Other languages are honored, interpreters are provided, but you have an obligation to speak the national language and there is nothing wrong with that. Hindi should be the Indian national language, and folks should get over it. There is no reason to not speak your mother tongue, to not speak in local dialects, to not practice your traditions, but never abuse another language or culture, for fear of losing your own. In India, speaking in Tamil or English in Maharashtra at one time, or English, Hindi in Tamil Nadu could have gotten you mortally injured. When did we begin exporting such hate towards fellow Indians?
- When you get naturalized in the US, you are asked to recite an oath. Part of this oath goes something like this "I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion". Citizenship of any country must be a privilege. You owe your country at least as much as it does you. All those countries in the far East and Europe that Indians shoot their movies and vacation in? They all have mandatory armed services requirements. Think about it. India's having a breakdown about citizens singing a national song or not, and other countries and their citizens have a pact to defend each other if required. Wow. When will we in India get to that point?
On a point of light-hearted hyperbole, at least anthropologists finally found something stronger than Chuck Norris' famed double jaw clench -> an Indian politician's loosely veiled threat (Chuck wasn't successful in calls for Texas to secede using the clench on Fox News, but the Indian politician was) and something weaker than the current US public healthcare option -> and thats the ability of the central Indian government to hold the country together. Missions accomplished. Guinness Book - change your records please.
Much for India to think about. But only after all the time, money and effort is spent in creating yet another state.
I'm off forming a coalition for a new yet-to-be named Indian Technology state. Someone will need to go on a hunger fast or Detox diet. Thinking a stretch of land between Mumbai, Goa and Pondicherry, only for technologists, geeks and people who care about each other, human rights, the environment and technology. Everything else that's important, we can practice in the confines of our homes, as it should be. I'm now learning the jaw clench.
