5000 years of Indian Civilization

We gather at the Wiseguys pretty much everyday ! The discussions mostly revolve around the conspiracy that the pharmaceutical companies are hatching to rob the world of cheap ,traditional, medicines and replace them with their products. Or the Americans holding the world at ransom and how they think their way of life is the benchmark for all forms of life ! Inadvertently the discussions would turn to India . I am the object of curiosity as the only dark skinned guy sitting amongst a bunch of drunk white men expressing his opinion. Usually Indians abroad do not mingle with the other races and if one is seen in a pub definitely he won't be the only one and must be sitting in one corner away from the lime light.

My friend, Dan, is a former Marine and has seen the world and surprisingly he knows quite a lot about India. Specially about Indian medicine! so he says " You know Sanjay , your culture is 5000 years old, you guys are some cool cats"! yeah I have heard that before especially from Indians when they are cornered about their culture... "Ours is a 5000 years old culture" meaning we cannot be wrong !

Any how Dan rambles on about live 52 , Brahmi, Ashwagandha, Chawanprash ...and I keep raising my eye brows ! Certainly I did not expect a Polish Canadian man to know all that stuff which the Indians themselves do not know, well many of them !

One day someone raised the issue of untouchables, which touched my spine. I have been there before ! And I had no answers !

"I heard that members of a higher caste would not give water to a lower caste man!!" Some one said !

"Umm uhhh ...yea ....ah ..well its not like that ..actually it happens in the villages ..not in the cities" ...

"But isn't that where most of India lives?"...

I cannot deny statistics ! This is where I remember all those posts on rediff about 5000 years of Civilization ...

so someone quipped "5000 thousand years of culture" ..

I sometimes think should I just say " These people don't respect my culture so I should not stay here and return to India?" ...thats most unreasonable Indians would say .."If they are insulting you then why do you live there?" .

Hmmm .. Am I really insulted on something I myself am not proud of ?

5000 years of Indian civilization and we have an amazing system where Religious riots kill thousands every year. People are denied basic human rights of being an equal human without being insulted or branded like an animal in a farm (Caste). Women first tow their parents line and then their husbands'. They are like a commodity ! A corrupt system which is putting 95% of economy into the pockets of 5 % of the population and the rest live on hand to mouth and still we have the pride of 5000 years of civilization. and Oh! yes the US visa is fine !!! I am moving soon but where I don't yet know !

Definitely its that old ..and its too old it needs some repairs!!!

What makes a man risk his life ? Ever smelled death ? Its a kind of thrilling and probably thats what man thrives on. With my Cessna 150 hurtling down towards the tarmac with a 30 degree nose dive at 85 KPH ( 1 Knot = 1.1508 miles) I thought I am going to crash for a moment.But then the instinct to survive kicks in and I level the aircraft to a cruise attitude, without me realizing it, and I feel a small thud under the fuselage and I am rolling on the runway. Was it a sense of relief ? I don't recall but I was sweating like a pig even though the humidity in Toronto is not that high now. One small error and one is dead . But its been an erring life all through out so this makes no difference.

Another day to live.

Today's editon in the Dawn newspaper Javed Naqvi wrote about GNH. Gross National happiness. I have not been to Bhutan but I hear that the GNH in there is pretty high. Must be.
Television came there just a few years ago. And till then what were they doing ? probably watching the Moon creating ghostly figures on the Himalayas. whatever makes you happy!

I remember ,as a child, how intrigued I was with the Star trek serial that I would give up playing cricket to watch it on sundays. and before that I would play cricket on sundays ! My Ma was definitely happy that I was home on sundays instead of picking up a fight elsewhere. GHH (Gross Home Happiness) was higher with the arrival of the TV.
Today children don't play anymore. They watch the saas bahu serial. Theres no Star Trek any more. The more "Firangi" parents have encouraged their kids to watch 'zee cafe' cause it airs "Friends". Kids don't go out of home anymore and the GHH should be even higher !

But Alas ! these kids talk a lingo thats out of my preception. and they have become fatter.
What happens if theres a war between China and India or pakistan and India ? No one is going to defend our country cause we will have a GNH higher than that of Bhutan that we will not bother to go to the front. After all we are racing every one! we beat the Pakistanis in their consumerism and we will beat the Chinese in their achivement of the fastest train and Bhutan in their GNH!