Real India

While Indians all over the world are basking in the glory of the Oscars for Indians, there are pundits in India who are crying foul. Their argument is that Mr. Boyle knows only one side of India – the slums, the tricksters, the dogs etc. He has no clue about the other India, the country which is advanced, whose citizens have been to moon and back, and whose residents are spearheading lot of technological and scientific advances in the world (not just in India).

They argue that Mr. Boyle and co. exploited one side of India with Oscars and foreigners in mind. They highlight one particular scene from the movie in their support. The scene in which Jamal takes American tourists to dhobi ghat to show real India while his mates steal the visitors’ car parts. When confronted he says “this is real India” to which the lady visitor says “I’ll show you real America”, and hands him couple of dollars.

Is this real India? Really?

Any Indian should be ashamed of posing this question, because every one of us should know what real India is. We should be proud to be denizens of that country which peacefully fought for its independence, which never invaded any other country, even though it has second largest army. The country where one can find diverse religious beliefs and numerous languages including the one which is the mother of all European languages.

Yes, there are some not so great things in India, like with any other entity on earth. Good and bad are two sides of the coin. Any one contradicting this is either a hypocrite or ignorant.

So, should we be worried that one particular movie (though it won several awards) highlights only the negatives? Should we be worried if the movie makers are only interested in winning the coveted award? Don’t we all crave for laurels? Will this diminish the greatness of the country?

Should we be worried if the ignorant people believe what they see in movies? What matters is what we, as Indians, do to ensure that these things (poverty, corruption etc.) are wiped out from India. If we can eliminate the perceptions from the real world, we can show the reality and eliminate the perceptions. Some heavy hearted, super active citizens think that we should show the other side, the better side, of India to the people with “wrong” perceptions. Does it do any good? By doing this, aren’t we just addressing the symptoms rather than cause? Can we cure jaundice just by powder coating the face?