Indian girl devised a charged to charge
your mobile phone in less than 30 seconds and Indian media goes gaga over
achievement. India born American citizen gets a seat in panel first time and
the media is ecstatic. India born girl wins IQ competition and the country
swells with proud.
Recently such news have been regulars in
the media circles. However, instead of making me proud they are irritating for
me. Not that I don’t enjoy someone else’s success but I do get irritated when
people try to link someone else’s success to their own by some or the other
link they could draw in between. Like in these cases, the India born executive or
NRI girl has nothing to do with India anymore!! Is it so difficult to
understand this? Yes, they were born in Indian geography few years or decades
back, but isn’t it odd for the country to celebrate wildly on how intelligent
or successful some people have become, who were once born or lived in this
country? These people no more represent India. They are citizens of a different
country. What does that mean? It means that these people have chosen the other
land to be their home, over the home which they once had. It means that they
have gotten over the fact that India was once their home. Can’t we get over
this?
This desperate measure of looking for
success stories from people who no more represents India is beyond just petty self-acclaim. What is more dangerous is the inherent message these stories pass by their very being.
Unfortunately, this message is widely acknowledged. It is – “Indians become
known to world and achieve success when they are not Indians anymore”. May
sound unpleasing to many but beholds the truth. We so deliberately propagate
the thought of success with a pre-requisite to it. The pre-requisite is that
these people achieved success because they were not in India anymore. Yes,
India may be a tough place to make a mark, but so is every other country in the
world. The challenges differs though, not the sincerity of efforts.
It also gives excuses to many for being
unsuccessful. “…I could not do it coz am stuck here in India..”. As pessimist
as it may sound, the whole point of taking credits from people’s success and
linking it to India is not going to lead us anywhere.
Some articles and news go further by
digging out connections to some places or events in India which changed the way
an achiever use to think or work. May or may not be true, makes us believe in
some way that it may work for us as well. Giving this mumbo jumbo to people and
making them believe in things rather than themselves and their potential can be
dangerous for the real India’s growth.
Its time we put behind what NRIs are
achieving in their new homes and rather take these stories as inspirations for
their hard work and perseverance, instead of how being Indians or being
associated to India made them achieve it.
Open your eyes and your mind to the reality
and not to the fantasy stories served by people who are hell bound to make news
that is interesting but not necessarily true.
Cheers,
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