Finding it hard to be proud of where I come from..RANT..controversial maybe...

This post may cause quite a bit of angst among Indians or people of Indian origin on this forum, however I just feel I have to post this. Please note that I don't think all of India or indians are like this, me being one myself, however, a vast majority of the country is in this state. When you read this, please consider that I live in India, I have lived in India for the past 21 years(all my life) and thus have a fair idea of what life here is like, like for real, not the 'India Shining' crap you hear in the press.
India is my country and wherever I go, it will always be. I am proud, rather I was proud to be an Indian but that feeling is being seriously challenged recently. I also am really grateful for the fact that despite its problems, India is still far better off than a number of countries in the world. And I am grateful that I, by the grace of God, am financially well-off which gives me a relatively comfortable standard of living in this country. I love my country, it is beautiful and does have some lovely people as well, however, there are major problems here and it's getting harder to ignore them. It's like when you have a child who's say, umm an alcoholic. You still love your child no matter what, but there comes a point when it becomes too much for you to take. That's the way I feel about my country at the moment.
'Incredible India', 'emerging superpower', 'fastest growing economy' are just some of the terms we as Indians and I'm sure many people in the west read on an almost daily basis. While we may be a growing economy;I don't know the actual figures but apparently that's a myth too, however I won't go into that because I'm not too well-informed regarding that. India, though, sucks. It sucks to live here, there are loads of problems at all levels and I, as an Indian citizen, am finding it harder and harder to be a proud Indian as each day goes by.
1.) Economy is growing, but poverty seems to be rampant: 40% of Indians live below the poverty line. They don't have access to one square meal per day. It's a classic case of the 'rich get richer, the poor get poorer'. No one cares about poor people in India. Poor people are born poor and they die poor, they have no aspirations and they are not allowed to.
2.) Filth: The streets are riddled with filth. Everywhere you go, there is dirt, filth and most places stink. Littering is widespread, there are actually signs on walls which say 'Do not spit'. Don't people have any civic sense that they actually need to be told not to spit on walls?
3.) Overcrowded: India is way too overcrowded. The streets are brimming with traffic, most of it unorderly. People do not know how to drive here, quite a few people get 'fake' driving licenses and as a result, the accident rate is high.
4.) Corruption: Agreed, corruption is present in all countries at some level. However, the level of corruption here is going through the roof. Everyday, we hear of a new 'scam' in the government, tales of millions and millions of rupees being 'stolen' from the public, being misused, used by all our great politicians who don't give a **** about the country.
Heck, you need to bribe nearly everyone. You want a telephone connection, you have to bribe the officer who will take ages to get you one otherwise. A cop can just pull you over randomly and accuse you of something you haven't done in order to get some money out of you. If you want a cop to do something for you, you need to bribe him as well.
5.) The people and their lack of manners: Indians are rude. Inherently rude. They believe that everything they do is correct and no one can be better than them. Most Indians lack basic manners, they will litter, spit, scratch their balls, pick their noses in public. Even in sporting events, such as cricket matches(because cricket is the only ****ing game we play), Indians will never applaud an opponent's hundred or if an opponent takes 5 wickets.
Indians are extremely racist as well. They are real hypocrites. You just have to turn on the television in India and you'll be bombarded with 'Fair and Lovely' commercials, Fair & Lovely being a cream or lotion or something like that which makes your skin fairer. I mean, WHAT THE ****? On the one hand, we say we're proud to be Indian blah blah blah, yet on the other hand we want to become fairer because 'fair is good'??? We need to have a look at ourselves. There is tremendous regionalism in India. People from one part of India widely discriminate against people from other parts. We go abroad and do the same things. Expect others to follow our 'customs'. It's bull**** and no wonder that quite a few foreigners hate us Indians.
The average Indian is being used. The 'high and mighty' get away with murder, corruption, rape, everything. The justice system is rubbish.
Rant over.

(edited 13 years ago)

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Pakistan is worse

Wow a self-loathing Indian....

Reply 3

DJ_Black

Given that not one person on this planet chose their birthplace/ethnicity/heritage, it's defies sense to be proud of the membership of/association with the same.

Reply 4

DeepStar

Stop crying about it.

No one else is allowed to choose their race, religion, place, heritage, status for birth then why should you be any different.

Be proud of being unique.

Reply 5

kalaghoda

Original post by tehFrance

Wow a self-loathing Indian....

I don't loathe myself.

Reply 6

HistoryRepeating

I love indians, especially Biriyanis and Vindaloos.

Reply 7

kalaghoda

Original post by DeepStar

Stop crying about it.

No one else is allowed to choose their race, religion, place, heritage, status for birth then why should you be any different.

Be proud of being unique.

I am not crying about it. I love my country and am proud to born in this country, also I am extremely grateful that for all its faults, India is far better off than a number of countries on this earth. I am just confused, how can I still be proud of this place when it's in such a mess?

Reply 8

tehFrance

Original post by kalaghoda

I don't loathe myself.

You loathe India, you are Indian therefore self-loathing.... anyway stop :cry:

Reply 9

kalaghoda

Original post by tehFrance

You loathe India, you are Indian therefore self-loathing.... anyway stop :cry:

I don't loathe India. I love India, I'm just disgusted at the current state of my country and my rant is all down to the passion I have for this country.

Reply 10

WeekendOffender

A lot of people are not getting this... he does not hate himself, or even India, and nor is he crying about it. It's OK for some of us in the Western world to sit on our computers, in the comfort of our own homes, and tell him not to worry about it. But there is a large amount of injustice in the world and India is a prime example.

I have no idea what to say to you in terms of being constructive, because there is really nothing we can do about it. However, I do think some of these people should show some empathy towards your situation instead of being so cold.

Reply 11

kalaghoda

Original post by WeekendOffender

Thank you

Reply 12

Harrifer

If you don't like it, I suggest you get into politics and try to change it.

Reply 13

tieyourmotherdown

Well every society has it's faults, and look at it this way ...

Every society has probably been through the phase that India is going through now, albeit without the overcrowding in most cases, but the rest of it applied to most states at some point. It certainly did to the UK, and still does in many other societies around the World, but ultimately as India becomes more developed (Which is happening at an astonishingly fast rate), these things will naturally ease away anyway.

Also don't forget the positives. India is a secular, pretty progressive state when compared to a lot of it's neighbours e.g. Pakistan.

Reply 14

golddust&lipgloss

Original post by tieyourmotherdown

India is a secular, pretty progressive state

believe it or not, india is not a secular country. infact it's doing the opposite.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 15

kalaghoda

Original post by Harrifer

If you don't like it, I suggest you get into politics and try to change it.

Ha..Indian politics deserves a thesis of its own..and the worst part is we're supposed to be the 'world's largest democracy', and if I express my opinion on our politicians, I'd probably get death threats so can't do so sorry.

Reply 16

kalaghoda

Original post by golddust&lipgloss

believe it or not, india is not a secular country. infact it's doing the opposite.

It is a secular country, we're pretty tolerant of religions. However, there is tremendous regionalism in India.

Reply 17

golddust&lipgloss

Original post by kalaghoda

It is a secular country, we're pretty tolerant of religions. However, there is tremendous regionalism in India.

http://www.twocircles.net/2008aug28/india_not_secular_state_dr_omar_khalidi.html -shows that it isn't secular. also, in sociology last year we were looking into why it isn't secularisng even though it is globalising. i should know, i got an A in the exam :tongue:

Reply 18

Harrifer