An individual of foreign nationality once matter-of-factly remarked to me that India is the most corrupt country ever, and all Indians are inherently dishonest. While this remark infuriated me, I could not altogether deny the presence of corruption in what I take pride in acknowledging as my motherland.

In fact, every, single day this disturbing reality is thrown in our faces (sometimes even censored), by the media. Moreover, so ingrained is corruption in our sense of functioning, that criminals (read politicians) brought to book refuse to yield, clinging tenaciously to some inexplicable sense of righteousness.

However, what specifically rankled me about my fine, white friend’s remark, was his superlative use of adjectives. Corruption is a universal phenomenon, not a feature unique to Incredible India. In fact, the West is inextricably caught in a web of extreme capitalism that is rife with corruption and exploitation.

Interestingly, a large percentage of the Western world and “developed countries” are atheist, who consider religion an antidote for the naïve, irrational, and weak in character. Rejection of God is associated with rationality and intelligence. However, such is their enlightenment and liberation that they are in the grip of a different and even destructive hegemony. One that encourages them to act against self-preservation. One that builds Rupert Murdochs and equips them with such powers that world leaders appear mere puppets in comparison. One that fuels organizations like Americans for Prosperity, exploiting the poor and protecting the rich.

To our atheist betters, it may logically follow that a god-fearing people are an irrational, suggestible lot. Thus it is a tad embarrassing for them to emerge in the grip of such acute hegemony that it allows them to be exploited by the corrupt.

Corruption is universal. India may not possess the incredible ability to hide it, in the words of Lennon, “behind a smokescreen of bourgeois clichés”. Our rational and enlightened sister countries not only wallow in it, but relentlessly deny its existence. A case of double deception.

Comfort Eagle

Imagine a white person, born into the upper class elite, in a western country where prosperity abounds. Such a man (gender assigned purely for convenience’s sake) has, from the time he was born, lived a life of comfort. He has never had to worry about where or how he will get his next meal. He has never had to worry about not being able to find a job. He can choose to either take up a job or not, because the State will support him anyway. He has not grown up in a society where the resources are acutely less than the population among which it needs to be distributed. He has lived all his life in comfort, without the need to worry that he may ever lose this comfort. He has also never been required to work too hard to achieve this comfort. He has not grown up in a society where child protection is NOT just a telephone call away. He has not grown up in a society where a child can be beaten with a stick by his own parents, and passersby will find it normal. He has never been hit by ANYONE, without knowing that he can hit them back. He can pursue a college education at any age he likes, because he enjoys the certainty of his fees being paid for by the State. He has never had to think beyond himself.

In such a man’s dictionary, the word SURVIVAL does not exist. Because surviving has not been a very difficult thing to do.

Now this man grows bored of the society in which he has been living: being comfortable isn’t a particularly tiring vocation. He feels that the people around him waste their time eating, drinking and sitting like louts in front of inane television programs. He feels the need to leave such a society and live in a completely different one.

So now imagine that this man visits a developing nation. In this country, the State supports no one. In this country, if you want to live, you have to make your own money. If you want money, you have to procure a job. If you want a job, you have to have an education. If you want a job that allows you to live COMFORTABLY, you have to have higher education. And if you want an education, you have to pay for it yourself. If you are a minor, your parents have to pay for your education. For your parents to pay for this education, they have to start saving money before you are even born. Yet, the above mentioned white man wonders why everyone in this country seems so desperate. He wonders why everyone seems eager to achieve material comforts. Everyone can think only of procuring an education, and then a job, which seems to be the key to a comfortable life. He wonders why people cannot think beyond themselves, and change the system. He wonders why people want to be left alone and to just manage to live a decent existence.

Yet he is no different from the people he is so quick to judge. He too seeks comfort and a good life. The only difference is that he has been accustomed to such a life: for him, such a life comes free. He merely seeks to continue such an existence. The other man has never experienced it, and merely seeks to ACHIEVE it.

“Freedom can only be exercised by people who are protected from the lack.”

Ten funny things about White Men in India.

1. If a white man says he can eat spicy food, he actually cannot.

2. White men who come to India to “get away from their own society”, come to India and look for other white people with whom they can relate.

3. White men who come to India to “get away from their own society” are also disappointed to find that they cannot get the same social atmosphere (read parties, drinking, dancing and other bourgeois activities) they were accustomed to.

4. However, if they do find the above mentioned things, they complain about how Indians try to ape the west.

5. White man comes to India and expects to eat any cuisine other than Indian.

6. White man speaking words in an Indian language usually thinks he’s pronouncing it correctly.

7. He also thinks that the Indian man nodding at what he is saying, clearly comprehends him.

8. White man comes to India and complains that the weather is hot! Aha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

9. White men “experience” racism in India.

10. An uncomfortable white man, is an annoyed white man (comfort in the physical sense). Yet white people think they are more mature than other Indians their age.

Power?

Is knowledge power? Self control is power.