Us Indians

Here is a lucid account of the status of water-sharing between India and Pakistan. The author, John Briscoe sums with minimum fuss the practical issues and also points to possible solutions. He cites the example of Brazil, and how it has chosen to be generous towards Bolivia and Paraguay, poor neighbours both; he hopes that India too will show such generosity.

I very much doubt it. We may be a tiny bit benevolent to Bangladesh or Nepal even; Pakistan is not a country that makes the milk of generosity flow in Mother India. For one, Pakistan has been foolishly aggressive. Kargil is impossible to forget - the TV has ensured that it will endure at least another generation of viewers. Second, unlike Bolivia and Paraguay, Pakistan is a dangerous country that is capable of causing serious harm to India. Brazil is lucky to be in an altogether salubrious neighbourhood.

As I pointed in my earlier blog on Bangladesh, India must repair the relationship with the rest of the neighbours. Being generous is only the beginning. The first few movements with Bangladesh suggest that perhaps we can hope for a better future there.

The second point that Briscoe makes - about the media in India - that is a serious and valid criticism. I am often dismayed at the lack of rigorous enquiry by the media towards what the various arms of the government do. The media in India is obsessed with trifles and on sensation; on melodrama and bathos; the level of debate on our weaknesses and our holy cows are so mild and staged, it makes me feel very ashamed indeed.

But the most devastating reality that I have had to face after reading the comments of the Internet community in India and Indians is that the young Indians today are so belligerent and so full of themselves - not ready to engage anyone who happens to differ in opinion. As an experiment try this: engage a couple of young adults, say 21 to 30, on any topical issue - be it the women's reservation, Pakistan and US, the state of infrastructure, food prices, education - chances are that they will not have a clue, or they will not be too concerned beyond their immediate issues. Any criticism of the current icons and any attempt to talk about the deep disparities in our society will immediately bring in the most vulgar kind of discourse: religious hatred, caste based hatred, language and region based hatred.

Sometimes I feel that the Internet and the TV have not brought the noble and the civilized in us. Reading the interactions and watching the audiences one would think that we are becoming closed and intolerant, unread and uncouth, shrill and surly.

Perhaps these are the sign of times? Perhaps this too will change and the tide will turn.