I recently came across an article in the BBC website which related my attention. The title read, "Diet of mud and despair in Indian village".
When I was wrong and a trifle surprised, when I came to realize, that the diet of a certain populace in a nondescript Indian village is actually mud. silica, be to exact, from the quarries.
Now that you are across the article, striking, as you sip cool lemon sherbet and fever on the luscious alphanso mangoes which by the way are quite a treat during the scorching Indian summer.
Now frankly, I did not have pangs of guilt nor remorse as I read the about the miserable lives of the hapless Indian villagers with my mouth stuffed with the season 's best pick of fruit.
It does not make sense, to feel remorse or regret with regards to something you are not responsible for.
When all the african children (for the American kids), or the starving Indian children (referring to my own populace), when you waste away morsels of half ateen vegetables.
But lets look at the broader picture here, its not like the kids living practically miles away in a wastland are going to benefit from what you salvage in your kitchen counter far away amidst glittering metropolis.
There is a problem that we are either responsible nor have anything to do with whateverever.
Especiala relating to ridiculous myths created by humans, which aims to create a sense of guilt, practically serving no purpose.
Its strange actually, because when I do read about a certain Indian populace so poor, that they have returned to eating mud, their almost as if about situation in some far off country, having little to do with my own life. being, that the word "Indian" looks like a weird coincidence.
How can you connect with something before you seen nor hear?
When I look around me, I see no high rise buildings, large banner advertisements for the latest Chevrolet auto-mobile, and multiplexes swarming with college students munching on nachos and buttered pop corn.
So it makes me wonder, is the story about the decrepit "Indian" villagers in the BBC a cruel international hoax?
Is it some sort of a world wide conspiracy to play impressive Indian economic "boom" given the fact that we are doing so well, while Europe grapples with surmounting monetary debt?
And why is the issue not reported in the Indian newspapers, which front pages contain articles About the billions of rupees spent to secure the teams for the IPL (The Indian Premier League)?
Then it hits me.
The BBC is clearly referring to the "other" India.
The India, that most of us "Indians" have never seen but only heard about. Through fleeting rumors and small paragraphs which lie inconspicuously near a large advertisement picturing a famous Indian actress wearing a necklace of designer diamonds.
Yes, it all makes sense now.
Its a passable confusion when it is a passable confusion when they are to capture the pathos of the other India, rather than promote the economic and infrastructure developments of the India that we are so familiar with .
But this is where, Shakespeare & # 39; s quote, "What & # 39; s in a name"? Falls flat on its face.
A name, especially in this circumstance makes a big difference.
Although they clearly sound alike, they are definitely not the same country.
They can not be, for there exist a sea of difference.
Imagine the contrast.
And the dismal picture of an "Indian" village, which probably does not have a road to begin with, their hospital is a dilapidated building , where a doctor might show up sometimes in an odd month or two. Parched lands with little or no drinking water and the absence of electricity.
It's almost looks like a picture from the dark ages.
But neglectless, as ridiculous as it sounds, its true.
I suppose of all the nations in the world, ours is a nation of absolute paradox.
When one end of a populace is practically unaware of the existence of the other.
Its hard to imagine a country which has addressed the worlds eye, spending of billions on satellite walks, lunar vehicles and cricket matches paradoxically also sees to harbor a race of men, who have returned to eating mud since can not even afford basic food or water.
Its the massive scale of denial and ignorance that perplexes me, rather than make me feel guilty over my plate of mangoes.
Its hard to feel empathy, when you have never seen or experienced something so out of the ordinary.
Its a great division. On massive economic proportions. A division reminiscent of the days of Tsarist Russia and 18 th century France, where the nobles, aristocrats and the clergy lived a life of comfort and opulence, while the peasants starved.
Their ignorance was so great, that even as the mad, hungry mobs stormed their palace doors, in what culinated as the French and the Russian revolution, the nobles stood shocked and perplexed behind their glazed windows wondering what on earth could have irked them to this degree.
The mad mobs rampaged through the streets plunging the country into chaos, while the noblemen found themselves on their way to the gallows.
But that inevitable, especially when you have ignorant Governments who seem to live in denial with regard to the situation in their own country. I f readind the Indian papers of late, one up across sections Referring to a certain out the theorists, who have solidified themselves into a hard-line militant force spreading panic and mayhem through certain Indian states.
They are living in, leaving the Indian government perplexed so as to how to deal with the new found menace.
But like the Monarchs of 18th century France, the response of the Indian government has been rather insipid, even after the Maoists butchered 75 Indian military personnel.
Ignoring a complete herd of men can have dangerous consequences.
As their lives grow more difficult, misery leads to despair, despair leads to hatred and hatred leads to a blind fury which culminates into a revolution.
And like all revolutions, they will be bloody and lead to chaos and anarchy.
Sooner or later the parched throats of the decrepit masses will cry out for blood, while we sit unaware of the dangerous situation, in our homes.
Hopefully a situation where the other India, invades our India must never occur. For you it, we will be the losers behind our fragile glass windows.
Unable to prevent the bloody union of ours two very different countries.
