A Mail from Kalam - MUST read for every Indian

There was a mail with that subject floating around few days back. I am just tired of reading such mails. I don't mean to hurt the person who has sent it. These mails are good to read, no doubt, but they fail to generate any patriotic feeling. I have penned down my thoughts on this :
First, if Dr. Kalam expects so much from the people, what has he achieved so far by being the President of India? Couldn't he have taken some steps to rectify certain faults in the constitution?
Our founding fathers made a great mistake by uniting the different states of colonial India. With so many differences (our leaders always take pride by saying "India is a mosaic of cultures" in international meetings), it is difficult to unite people. Elsewhere in the world, people atleast have a common language through which they can unite. There is no common thing except the name of the country to unite Indians, which makes things more difficult.
Maybe we would have been more developed if we had fought for our Independence like how the Americans and French fought - we let the Britishers rule for over 2 centuries and then got independence because the economy of England was so down after 2nd world war, they could not maintain their colonies. So THEY GAVE US INDEPENDENCE, we did not get independence. How come after India got independence, all other Asian and African nations got Independence? Did you ever hear of an independence struggle in Srilanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma/Myanmar? Yet a year after we got our Independence, Srilanka got its independence. Or there maybe people among you who would say the great Mahatma also fought for the independence of all the above mentioned countries, no offence meant to the Mahatma.
America is in such a position right now because the people consider the whole country as THEIR country. In India, there are so many cultures and traditions that each considers himself superior to others. For example, Tamilans want their language to be a national language, there was a movement in the early 70s for a separate state, they have such issues as the main political agenda - is that what the country needs now? Each state has problems of its own and instead of correcting or overcoming the problems, the politicians magnify it 10 times. Even in the US, each state has a problem of its own, and each state deals with it properly, does not make a big political issue out of it, gets over it and prospers, while we magnify it everytime, making it a big political issue.
I have been in Tokyo for quite a while and I can say the people there are the most disciplined - they stand in a queue to board a bus/train. Can you ever imagine such a thing happening in India? Indians lack the basic discipline of cleanliness. That has to be an inherent quality. There was one other mail, supposed to be a speech by APJ where he says in Singapore an Indian does not litter the streets. We know the reason. Can't the Indian govt also bring such regulations? Tell me which one is easy - reforming 1 billion people or 15% of the billion who are politicians? Bring tough regulations, impose fine, treat everyone equal before law - and you might be surprised how quickly people will discipline themselves.
The media is negative here too - Switch on the CNN and you will know how they bombard the government with questions on the Iraq war or whatever local problems they face. The government takes a constructive view from the media. In the US, the media makes or breaks an election campaign. I believe it is the responsibility of the media to dig out the dirt so that we learn from our mistakes and try to make life more liveable.
He is bickering about Indians going to America and other countries to work and make money. Does everyone in India currently have a job? What is wrong if a few Indians want to make money and live comfortably? If India is in a good position now, it is because of NRI money. The IITs and IIMs can offer much better quality of education because their NRI alumini contribute generously. How many Indians living in India have ever thought of contributing a little monetary help to the instituitions where we studied? Money matters a lot in today's world...Even for a preschool seat, we need to give a large donation. Why doesn't the govt take any steps to stop that? You don't take any steps to stop corruption, but you want people to stay in India So it is not wrong if people go in search of it. The govt realizes the importance of NRIs and hence they have given a lot of benefits for them - so that they keep money flowing into the country. If they had stayed in India, India would not have prospered as much. India only has man power, and the will to slog at work. Nothing else. We bask in the glory of our forefathers being the founders of Ayurveda and the like. So who stopped others from discovering/inventing? The English looted our resources only, I hope not our brains. Its ours to use, and we are using it successfully to make money in a foreign land. Given an equal opportunity in India, I don't think anyone will refuse. Give the person a clean environment, a corrupt free system, then I am sure every Indian working abroad will come back home. Afterall, they have gone there out of necessity. They have left their loved ones back in India, they are earning so that their family back home can live comfortably.
Every working class person pays tax in India - so he has given something back to his country, to answer APJ's ask what we can do for India. So it is natural that he expects something in return - clean roads and continuous power supply. Is that too much to ask? In the US, people spit, throw cigarettes on the road. But there is someone employed by the local county to clean up the mess.
We are a capable nation, but speeches such as these will not help in making India progress. I am sure APJ is not so naive as to believe that a simple speech will transform a nation. Otherwise he would have lectured the politicians first!! What say you?

Indian Tradition Vs Western

I am a strong supporter of Indian tradition, inspite of its pitfalls and holes. It pains me when people try to belittle our tradition by quoting examples from western countries.
I have seen people asking this in many movies : how can you marry a guy without knowing anything about him, just because your horoscopes match, or because your parents say so? If that is the case, then why is the divorce rate in the US and UK very high? But do the movies ever highlight that fact? There are some arranged marriages that fail in India and some that fail in the US too. But when you look at the whole picture, these both will only seem to be a dot.

In the western world, people kick their kids out of their home when they are 16 so that they become very responsible.. but how many are really responsible? Most drop out of schools, become addicts, engage in all sorts of criminal activities. Even the great President's daughters are no exception to that. How can we presume that these kids, when they marry will be responsible? Will make good parents? Or maybe a few do think people here are responsible. That is why movies like Mine Yours and Ours run in this country - "these are my kids, those are your kids, and the kids over here are ours". Oh what responsible parents - they don't mind raising the children of their spouses' failed marriages.

To make sure a kid is responsible, it is not necessary to kick him out of the house. That will not make him responsible, it will make him independent. Making him independent at 16, when he does not know what the world is like, is dangerous. It can make or break him. He is going to be independent once he gets a job - so why hurry the process? What is he going to learn at 16 that he cannot learn at 22?

People back in India have started aping their western counterparts. There are lots of parlors, clubs, pubs that play western music all night long. Teenagers cough up enough money to spend at these places.

Our forefathers had set some principles to be followed for a better living. Over the ages, they have been changed and twisted according to people's whims and fansies. But the thought behind those principles have always been good. People call it superstition these days. Anything that does not have a proof is classified as superstition. That is because the western world has had a great influence in the minds of the younger generation. When the western world is turning towards astrology and ayurveda, we are turning away from it.

My First Post

People have been asking me to start my own blog for quite a long time now. So after much thought, I have decided to create one. I might not be very regular in my posts, but keep visiting every now and then to check for updates :)

When people try to make conversation, either to pass time, or to come out of an awkward situation, or maybe just for the sake of talking, always talk about the weather! My first post will also be on the weather, because it has riled me up a lot. I have been here for a little more than a year. Last year around this time, the weather was pleasant, sunny and we could go to the park, walking, stay out late... We do all that this year too, only in our dreams!! So that put me to think. What has changed in one year? Then I heard from friends back in India about the weather there. Summer is early,or the winter is long, very windy, hail and storms in other parts of the world... and the reason?! Global warming. There was one interesting email that was floating around - A guy explaining to his son what the earth would look like 50 years from now - No one would believe we once had such abundance of fresh water around us, that people go fishing, swimming and play watersports. His son looks at him with dreamy eyes as his father continues telling him life 50 years back. Since people did not know water does not last forever, they did not conserve it. I would like to draw a parallel to today's climatic condition. Trees are essential for us to live and lead a normal life. Without trees, the oxygen in the atmosphere would come down drastically. With no rains, plant life will be almost extinct. Where would that leave us? If the food chain breaks, the entire world would come to a stand still. It is time we realize that nature cannot be taken for granted. We need to conserve and preserve so that our future generation can lead a normal if not better life.