Wednesday, January 2, 2013

A letter from an Indian to a foreigner friend.

 Jan 1, 2013.
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Dear .....

I wish you a happy New Year too.

About the tragic situation in India, you are right - something positive may come out. So many people coming to protest against the corruption, incompetence, misgovernance and lack of safety that I guess this will wake up the government and the police. At the same time the whole society may unite to help themselves. The apathy of the common people has brought India down to this level. This sort of violent crime (and many other kinds) happen when people forming the society do not take active part in the maintenance and progress of the society as a whole, when they become self-centered, content with their nice four walls, family and wealth, and take things for granted. Once a while the society needs a jolt to wake up. Unfortunately, a few good/innocent people end up making great sacrifices for that.

India is very complex for me, it has 2 parallel societies (rich and poor) and  2 parallel economies (White and Black), 2 parallel developments ( high-tech and ground level destruction), scores of languages and dialects, 10 religions their uncountable sects, innumerable of political parties, 1.25 Billion (Milliarden) people, and a landmass roughly same size as the European Union. So I cannot even comprehend the complexities of this ancient and massive society. On paper, it looks like India is doing great, but that is only half the story, the other half got exposed now. We often brag about our diversity but our gaps are quite shocking. All I know is every civilization goes through ups and downs, India is almost bottoming out and things should improve from here. Especially the younger generation is very active and aware, so there is a good chance that there will be a nonviolent revolution in India within a few years to throw out the corrupt people from the power and rebuild a new India. That would be the the Third and final Independence Movement of India.

As a child I wanted to make India an ideal society, but that was just a dream. I used to read about the sacrifices, Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Bose and Laxmi Bai, made and I thought that is what I should do too. Yet, I am not doing much, because I am not brave enough. Plus, having lived most of my life in western luxury, I am not dreaming of becoming the next Mahatma Gandhi any more, rather lead a peaceful life where I can do what I am good at. I just want to improve the basic education (in India, South America and Africa) to some extent, especially for those who are not getting a chance. I am seriously thinking of moving to India for one year to help improve the basic education for all. Let's see if I have enough courage to do it. Some of my friends have opened up some very good schools there, I enjoy teaching the kids there once in a while. But that is just one drop in the ocean. So I have decided to use some of the modern popular media, e.g. computers, cell phones, etc to spread basic education, which I think will reach millions of people.

Once again I thank you for writing, and also special thanks for your surprisingly positive, thoughtful and balanced view of the situation. The media has pounced on India, as if it is an Indian problem alone, pointing fingers at its religions, culture, society, everything. To a large extent they are right. But, I know ill-treatment of the women and minority groups has been a problem to varying degree everywhere in the world. I actually do know the solution, but have not been able to prove it or implement it. Maybe someday soon.

Warm wishes from the cold mountains
New Year's greetings to your family

Dr. Ranbir Sinha

The writer is a Switzerland based entrepreneur with eclectic interests. His main focus has been on education and skill development

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