Learn to Deal with Indians

If there is one human being whose words are keenly heard, decisions awaited and deeds hopefully desired by most humans in today’s world, it is that of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. No other leader in human history, especially in the last five decades, has assumed office with so much hopes and aspirations from his fellow countrymen. What he will achieve (or not achieve) will decide the fate and future of millions and millions in a developing nation like India. The nation which controlled almost 40% of the world’s GDP almost two hundred years ago is now struggling with almost 40% of its people clinging to the ever changing Poverty Line.

It is in this context that the ‘Make in India’ campaign launched by Modi becomes very relevant and strategic. If India can convince the developed world that India and Indians are the most legitimate claimants in the democratic world to host the world’s production factories we can show and teach the whole world a few important points. We can reiterate to the whole humanity that democracy in the form of elected governments is the most legitimate form of governance. And in the process, a vast majority of Indians will be pulled out of the poverty trap by the millions of employment opportunities raised by these production facilities.

But for the ‘Make in India’ campaign to succeed, we must also alert the world with the slogan of ‘Deal with Indians’. The developed world is aware of how to deal with Germans, British, Americans, Russians, Japanese and now with the Chinese. But they have little clue about the nature of Indians and the ways to deal with them. Whether others like it or not, the world must realize that India will dominate the world stage in the years to come once again and Indians have the following likes (and dislikes):-

- Eat with hand

- Predominant vegetarianism. No Beef, but milk
- Indian English, Indian accent
- No Toilet Paper, only Water
- No Tie
- Respect for Elders
- No cheerleaders, but Ganesh pooja

Indians must assert our identity and not try to ape the West again, as during the colonial days. Like the Japanese and Chinese, we should make our mark and let the world know our likes and dislikes.

Right Indians

Right Indians constitute a formidable majority in India, yet our Right parties have failed miserably in their electoral tactics. Little do they realize the simple fact that a country with more than 10,000 years of uninterrupted civilization can only be Right in its thinking. Starting from the Slave Dynasty around 1000 AD till the time the British were kicked out in 1947 AD, innumerable efforts have been launched to break the Rightness of India during the intervening 1000 years. It has been an international effort of unprecedented dimensions involving almost all shades of isms from outside of India. Their efforts have been highly successful in plundering the material wealth of India. From a share of about 40% of the world’s GDP the thousand-years-plunder reduced India to less than 1%. It is no exaggeration to say that more than 50% of the material wealth in current Europe rightfully belongs to India. But the successive onslaught of all foreign isms has failed completely in their attempts to break the Right mind of India.

It is necessary to differentiate between Right and Left in this context. The Right stands for tradition, values, nationalism, progressive reforms to correct the wrongs in society and all that is now known as Hindutva and Dharma. And the Left denotes rejection of our traditional values, mindless internationalism, revolution and support for complete destruction of our society structures. The perverted version of secularism practiced in India now (which dictates equal respect for all religions but special status for the followers of some) and several versions of anti-national forces are nothing but tools of the Left in its efforts to capture power. They have been successful so far in capturing political power and altering the shades of our society in many parts of India, but the overall character of Indian psyche remains unpolluted. Kailas, Ganges, Kanya Kumari, Ramayana, Sanskrit and Vande Mataram will still make any Indian to wake up from his slumber.

Left Over

The latest general elections in India have not been helpful for the Indian Right. Strange combinations of ‘secular’ forces including the notorious EVMs’ have worked against its interests. The net result has been uninterrupted dummy rule with an unelected PM at the helm to keep the seat warm. The prince of democracy is getting ready for the eventual take over, by which time the incumbent could be duped into all the terrible and horrible actions and thrown out as a traitor, thus making the change look logical and in the best interest of the nation. But who will hoodwink whom and whether the grand design will work out as per plan remains to be seen. Much more grandiose plans have failed earlier and many princes have failed to achieve coronation for silliest of reasons in the past. Only time will tell us the final result.

But Left is almost over in India for the time being. When Gorbachev made his famous speech in 1991 advising the world to learn from their mistakes, little he would have expected his brother comrades in India to take it seriously. No one likes to remain poor and be Communists forever. Communist leadership in India has realized this much earlier than their followers. Parliamentary aspirations, international corruption, air-conditioned armchair socialism and lipstick feminism has alienated the cherubic leadership from the dark, ugly and hungry proletariat. The dialectic between a leadership without sweat glands and followers who bleed sweat was getting too much. The wipe out of Left in the last elections was nothing unexpected. Like Gorbachev the great, the current Communist leadership must also be thanked for a bloodless burial of Communist Leftism in India.

Right Time

The great opportunity for Indian Right lies in here. About 50% of Indian population remains poor and they desperately need a political force to talk for them. Genuine communists had handled this role well in the past and the space is now lying vacant. Indian Right who had hitherto stood more for the urban middle class and village traders must now argue more for the unemployed, toiling labour and agricultural workers. Right leaders who should be more rooted in our traditional values must appreciate that ‘daridra narayans’ are the best representation of Narayan and ‘manava seva’ is the best form of Madhavaseva. For the right political party it will be the easiest of exercises to pick up right candidates for leadership from among the millions of its supporters for such a right cause. India’s own versions of trusteeship ownership of capital and dharmic ways of handling labour to usher in a Ram Rajya as envisaged by the nation’s father must not be difficult at all for a leadership with vision.

Time is also ripe at the international scene for a resurgence of the Right forces from India. Pure forms of Capitalism and Communism have failed to alleviate human misery at all levels. What we have in many countries are adhoc-isms which are centered on individual leaders than around any faceless ideology. India’s Integral Humanism provides the best option for ensuring spiritual growth of individuals along with adequate material growth, health and happiness. The innate greed of humans can be controlled only by states run on ideology and not by individual or family charisma. The feeling of equality must be accepted by each and every individual before we can ensure distribution of minimum wealth. Such a feeling was definitely there in ancient India, otherwise there could not have been a peaceful co-existence among various communities. It was lost during the thousand-years-plunder period and the Right forces can bring it back again.

It is golden opportunity for the Right in India to re-emerge. The current façade of stability that is projected by the ‘dy-nasty’ parties is bound to be short lived. How can there be genuine democracy in a country that is run by political forces with no ideology other than the interests of a dynasty? Our nation is one of millions of families and not the private property of a few political families. Political parties and politicians in a genuine democracy must necessarily have alternative political ideologies and clear-cut action plans to implement them. The elected government must implement its own declared action plan based on its own ideology. In this regard there is no better choice for India to put right smiles on every Indian face than the Right way.

Doubting Narens

Doubts have a prominent role in shaping the life of individuals, hence society and nations. It is only individuals with never ending doubts and their doubt-clearing gurus that have expanded the frontiers of knowledge thus far. But for them the extent of Science would have remained a few minor islets in the surrounding expanse of unknown and ideologies about God. Dredging of the ocean of ignorance to expand the islets of scientific knowledge is a permanent process powered by the doubts of billions of humans. The process continues and it will go on till the end of our present time. But doubts have a negative side too. If the doubter chooses to remain a permanent one with no attempt being made to clear his or her doubts, it can turn out to be counter-productive. It can weaken their own selves and collectively their society and their nation. The present condition of a large number of ‘educated’ Hindus in India is one such pitiable state of self-defeating doubts leading to shameful indifference and slow death.

Anyone who is interested in Indian affairs is invariably intrigued about the unlimited and unfathomable doubt clearing capacity of our ancient Rishis. Without any hitherto known resources for physical exploration, the amount of knowledge they could so correctly depict in their literary works about the natural symmetry of universe from electrons revolving around nucleus, planets around suns and galaxies around whatnot is amazing if not astonishing. They had crystal clear concepts about the omnipresent and omnipotent energy of God. But they never (mis)led any of their fellow beings by posing as the only knower of God or the latest or last prophet. Though incoherent in the first reading, the entire gamut of ancient literature in India presents a unified picture about Brahman which encompasses everything and anything that we can think of. Yet many Indians, especially Hindus, are opting to be in constant darkness of doubts. They need to look no further than the well known transformation of a Doubting Naren to Swami Vivekananda to salvage themselves and this great nation.

Naren to Vivekananda

Experience & belief are like chicken & egg in the science of God. Without an experience, it is difficult to firm up one’s beliefs and without firm beliefs it is difficult to get any experience of God. This syndrome which is a sure recipe for disaster is being ‘effectively’ used in India’s education sector by the secular mafia that is ruling India for the last one thousand years. In an open society like India, the role of education was always for a free and unhindered pursuit of the eternal truth. But the situation changed when organized faiths (or ‘political religions’ as more appropriately called) came in. First the Mughals manipulated education to impose their own beliefs and then the British (followed now by their remnants) used it to establish their rule. The net result has been a set of deranged people who neither know anything about God nor about their own identity.

Narendra Nath (Naren) is the best such example we can pick up from India’s recent history and listen to his own words when he pestered an ascetic like Ramakrishna about feeling God.

“The touch at once gave rise to a unique experience within me. With my eyes open I saw the walls and everything in the room whirl rapidly and vanish into naught, and the whole universe together with my individuality was about to merge in an all-encompassing mysterious void. I was terribly frightened and thought I was facing death....Unable to control myself, I cried out, What is this that you are doing to me? I have my parents at home. He laughed aloud at this and stroking my back said, All right, let it rest now. Everything will come in time. The wonder of it was that no sooner had he said this than that strange experience of mine vanished. I was myself again and found everything within and without the room as it had been before”.

Naren was not an ordinary and naïve individual who could be fooled. And Ramakrishna was not an educated and sophisticated trainer who could fool others. We know that Naren went on to become Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna become immortal as a Paramahamsa. Yet very few among us are learning our lessons from such incidents and getting cleared of our doubts.

Snobbishness to Wisdom

One of the most regrettable signs of our secular education is the extent of snobbishness that is prevalent among our middle class. Education in a foreign language right from an young age of three can never refine our children. If at all it does anything it is only by way of silent indoctrination of subservience that also promotes snobbishness as a balancing force. Middle class Indians quoting more from Socrates and Shakespeare than from Kautilya and Kalidasa is proof enough for this snobbishness, perhaps even unknown to such individuals. India’s current education system has no Indian content of any value and we are deliberately taught nothing about India that we can feel proud about. The secular framework ensures that we are told more about the atrocious caste discrimination than about its scientific basis which is inevitable in any human society which is at least ten thousand years old. There seems to be hidden agenda behind this deliberate attempt to promote self-pity among Indians in a free India. Most of the ‘best’ schools in India that has produced our current rulers are owned by Christian institutions is a very significant point to be noted.

In the absence of any determined action by the state to promote true wisdom, the only option open is for the enlightened non-governmental institutions to intervene. Only a nation with its children full of self-respect can ensure a better tomorrow. Instead of telling our children that we were slaves for one thousand years, we should tell them that we were leading the world (and never ruling others) for thousands of years before that. India is so much full of untapped wealth that finding resources for any such genuine attempts to promote true Hindu wisdom among our children can easily succeed. Those who want to make an attempt must remember that we Indians have gone through much tougher times earlier. The dharmic concepts of India’s ancient wisdom are indestructible. Like a human liver it can always blossom into a fulsome from even one fragment. Even if all our souls get harvested, Sanatana Dharma will come back with its full authenticity and authority. All that we need is a genuine concern to evolve from being doubting Narens to enlightened Vivekanandans.

So what is that simple wisdom that is sadly lacking in many Indians in today’s world? It is the simple understanding that nothing is to be assumed or taken for granted in the pursuit of knowledge for the eternal truth. So many times it has been revealed to us that God can manifest in the least expected of place and time. Our much desired self-realisation can take place due to the least significant incident in our life triggered by the least sophisticated man or woman we know of. All that we need to do is to shed our snobbish ego and repose faith in the goodness of fellow humans. For each and every doubting Naren among us there is a simple unsophisticated and perhaps uneducated but realized soul (like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa) who can guide us to the ultimate truth. All that is needed is the willingness to seek the vehicle without any pre-conceived notions and accept wisdom to reach our destination.

Gulfdog Billionaires

Dogs are famous not only for their faithfulness and ferocity, but also for their helplessness and servitude as well. Barring a minority of dogs with European pedigree most of the other dogs in the world fall into the category of either underdogs or now, slumdogs. Both have only sad stories to tell and it is no surprise that their counterparts in the human society are becoming more vocal, visible and violent in recent times. In the bigger canvas of national and international dimensions, all slumdog humans are essentially underdogs in their environment and fields of activity. The simple fact that a few slumdogs from the infamous Dharavi slum in Mumbai could dance onstage in the famous Kotak theatre during the Oscar awards does not alter their ground realities. Those poor children will soon return to their homes amidst all depredation and feeling of unwantedness.

The unprecedented success of slumdog movie will help in focusing our attention of many other types of underdogs prevalent in the current Indian context. One such growing category of underdogs in the last few decades is the case of Indians in the Gulf. The entire Middle East region is now flooded with fortune seekers from the Asian subcontinent and the physical & psychological condition of a majority of them are nothing but that of underdogs. The nouveau riche Arab nations in the Gulf have been enjoying the fruits of highly talented labour force from India at abysmally low charges for almost three decades now. No doubt, India and Indians have benefitted quite a lot in terms of huge foreign exchange remittances and avenues for employment in these Gulf nations. But no one can deny the fact that such prolonged periods of working in closely monitored working conditions have produced a new breed of underdogs and let us name them as ‘gulfdogs’. And many such gulfdogs have managed to become billionaires too.

Slavish Environment

Living conditions of Indians in the Gulf labour camps was a hot topic that was catching up just prior to the start of the current melt down. Flock of politicians and social activists from India were aiming to harvest some attention highlighting the condition of Indian gulfdogs in these labour camps when the meltdown tsunami waves swept away their plans. The biggest concentration of such notorious camps is in UAE and most of them will be deserted in the next few months time. The condition of labour camps in many of the other Gulf states is even worse but it will never attract the same attention as the Dubai charm for Indian politicians. Much tougher access and almost complete opaque human rights conditions will make it difficult for anyone to even witness the reality in these camps. If the notorious Gulf labour camps represent the heights of physical atrocities, the unquestioning atmosphere prevalent in offices and business sector symbolize the peculiar form of modern day slavery that is unique in the Middle East.

South Asia provides the major chunk of labour force and the bulwark of official and business hierarchy in the Gulf countries. A majority of them are Indians and a majority of Indians come from Kerala. Thus Keralites (Malabaris to the Arabs) constitute the bulk of gulfdogs in the Middle East. Thanks to the high literacy levels in Kerala, a significant section of gulfdogs are educated and qualified. Even among the working category, the Malabari gulfdogs stand out as intelligent, literate and skilful. While the slavish hierarchy in the workforce is quite evident, the same mentality is subtle in the office and business. Most of the owners are Arabs but those who wield the real power are either Whites or other Arabic speaking nationals. And at the very bottom of the hierarchy you will invariably find gulfdogs who contribute the maximum but benefit the minimum. Their virtual image (in three piece suits) looks impressive but the real condition of most of them is indeed pathetic.

Crabbish Mentality

Crabs, like dogs, are a set of animals that correlate well with humans in behavior. There is a saying that crabs, held in captivity, in a large glass container need not be covered at all. It is difficult for anyone to climb on glass walls, but in the case of crabs it is impossible because each one of them will pull down the other who is trying to escape. It is quite natural to have this sort of crabbish mentality in any society where the struggle for survival and success is at its peak. Gulf scenario is an opportunity for making quick bucks and the crabbish mentality reaches great proportions among the vast population of gulfdogs. It must be no better among the more qualified tech-coolies in Europe and America as well. But the modus operandi will be more subtle and polished among them when compared to the gulfdogs. Outright cheating, backstabbing and faith betrayal are much more common among gulfdogs than among any other community. Recent instance of one highly successful slumdog billionaire arranging barber training in India for Arabs to backstab his own fellow gulfdog barbers is a revealing one. And the story ends with the said gulfdog billionaire bagging “Pravsai Samman” from Government of India !! Another one has recently been awarded for increasing the fees in Indian schools by a whopping 300%.

There are legendary episodes of betrayals among gulfdogs which are unbelievable. When success or failure of years of toil comes to a choice between standing by or betraying another gulfdog, most of the gulfdogs fall for the devil. Most of the businesses run by gulfdogs are built on such betrayals. It is said most of the hypermarkets, hospitals, hospitalities, money exchanges, gold businesses, contracting companies are built on tainted money which gets more tainted by the sweat and blood of fellow gulfdogs. Many gulfdogs have become lakhpatis, millionaires and billionaires in the process. Just a few examples in gold business (profit margin is merely 1%) where scores of gulfdog billionaires have come up in a span of one decade is good enough to highlight the extent of loot by billionaire gulfdogs of fellow gulfdogs. It is a typical DED(dog-eat-dog) syndrome at its heights.

Kerala has the biggest share of gulfdogs and naturally the highest number of gulfdog billionaires. Every district in the state has atleast one or a few such ‘success’ stories. Many of them have struggled their way up by buttering Arabs and looting fellow gulfdogs. For the Arabs, all Asians are gulfdogs but many of the gulfdogs who understand their language well misunderstand the attitude of masters. Arabs were quick to recognize this opportunity and have institutionalized systems where gulfdogs are employed to spy and pry on fellow gulfdogs. It can be easily established that atleast a few of the gulfdog billionaires have made it thanks to their shameless efforts in betraying their own countrymen and country. Another movie titled ‘Gulfdog Billionaire’ will definitely yield a truck load of Oscars for India.