Anglophobia

Goddamn the Brits. They screwed us and did a great job of it. I remember my history teacher telling me so in class X that we owe a lot to the British as they were the ones who introduced India to modern technology. Did they do that out of pity for the brown and scrawny Indian native, in an effort to ameliorate him? Or did they do that out of a purely selfish motive, to rule us even more tenaciously? They built roads and bridges, laid down telephone lines and railway tracks, for the “benefit” of the poor and downtrodden Indian and shouldn’t we all bow before the queen and hail her in unison. The “exemplary” education system that we were introduced to was designed to produce literate clerks who would understand and obey orders of their English masters. And that education system still prevails. Learning by rote seems to be standard method of imparting education. Apart from a very few institutions, the rest are still enslaved by it. What percentage of Indians encourage their progeny to pursue careers in a field which interests them rather than the one which is the most financially rewarding? How many schools teach in a manner which encourages free and rational thinking, which inculcate into the students to question and to explore every damn thing around them, and not to take things at their face value? I remember through my own personal experience, the treatment doled out to the students who asked “stupid” questions like, “Why does + stand for addition and – for subtraction” or “Why do like charges repel and unlike attract”. On the surface these questions may seem stupid to the superficial learner but they indicate that the enquirer has an inquisitive mind. On a side note, isn’t the mighty British economy built on the Indian wealth those buggers exploited, raped and plundered out of our country? They owe us a lot of money!

Almost every major problem that we face today can be traced to Brits. They divided us on the lines of religion, caste and language. The North-South divide and the nonsensical Aryan Invasion theory was a part of their diabolical design. Through the aid of their stooges, both foreign and Indian, they destroyed our culture systematically, by sowing the seeds of doubt in the Indian mind, and today many Indians question its authenticity, and dismiss it because the west does not approve of it. Ramayana and Mahabharata have devolved into mythology instead of the history they are. It was Chanakya, the great Indian philosopher who gave the theory of “Sam, dam, dand and bhed” and how beautifully was it used against us. Deceive, inveigle and obfuscate, to the hilt!

Over the years English has become my primary language, Hindi, my mother-tongue has become a second-rate citizen. I watch movies made in Hollywood and other parts of the world, the very thought of watching a contemporary Indian movie (with a certain exceptions) makes me cringe. The music is listen to is mostly western, the clothes I wear are western, the TV-shows I watch are all American or English, thanks again to the quality of Indian TV. I look up to the west for confirmation, being an Indian. How sad is that? What part of me is, in a pure and unadulterated manner, Indian? There was a time when anything imported bore the seal of excellence for the Indian mind. At least, things have changed on that front. It seems that most of my identity has been shaped and influenced by the West and has become pseudo-western. But I guess my heart is still Hindustani. But it is indeed depressing and deplorable. India did free itself from the shackles of the British Colonial rule, but the west still rules us. In our thoughts and our actions. It is the modern colonization. The birth of the coke and pepsi drinking, burger and pizza eating, English speaking generation, for some of whom the ultimate goal is settle and abroad and become a part of the West. We speak a macaronic tongue. There was this rickshaw-Walla who did not know where the “sachivalay” was, but jumped into action as heard the word secretariat. Similarly, a watch-man who did not understand “phatak kholo” but did open the gate when he was asked to “open the gate”. Hinglish is in the air. I guess most of the other Indian languages are spoken in a similar fashion. Do we Indians have our own identity? The Germans do, the Japanese do, the English and the Americans most certainly do, what about us? The apparent fact that I am expressing my distress in English bears witness, ironically, to what I said. The British unequivocally made a horrible mess before leaving, but I do realize that my thunderous diatribe against them will not solve any of our problems, but can't we all learn from our past to not to dance to the tunes of divisive poiltics .