Criminals, politicians, administrators, cops and now KJ Yesudas. It's very easy for us to say "I'm right and you're wrong". But it takes considerably more effort in understanding why we appear as wrong to others. Here is one attempt.
India has progressed at a breathtakingly fast pace since the last decade or so. But as always with such pace, the development has affected only pockets of the society. The result is that we have two vastly different sections of the society each one looking at the other with blatant contempt. Again, note that the contempt is mutual and it is a dangerous harbinger.
One section is forward looking, western, modern, savoring the freedom and liberty that exists in the world and marching ahead at a scorching pace. The other section is caught in its traditional web, unable to release itself from biases and locked and adamant to be in a status quo. The former wants India to be like the western world. Is frustrated at its slow adoption. The latter frustrated with the way the former is behaving.
India has always found peace in tolerance. Be it the British or the Mughals or even before, tolerance has always been our virtue. It could be debated whether it was the best strategy but when we refused to tolerate it had usually resulted in chaos. While there is evidence that chaos has yielded something good, it's always tricky to predict the result.
I hope the section of the society which has the capability to tolerate finds a middle path and takes the other half along with it. In my opinion, any measure that we take ignoring the other half and considering only one half, however right it may be, is guaranteed to be a failure and cause chaos. And we just cannot afford that.
The first step is to acknowledge their hatred towards our way of life and understand where it comes from. In my opinion, only then a solution will emerge. We all enjoy and want freedom and with that comes a responsibility as well. The responsibility towards the society. It is easy to say that we are not to blamed if they are "behind". Can we ignore those that we think are too behind and do what we think is right? Can we look down upon those who think that we are "modern"? Debatable. I think we cannot if we want to live together.
Note: I'm not trying to say we have to adjust and live according to the other half.
India has progressed at a breathtakingly fast pace since the last decade or so. But as always with such pace, the development has affected only pockets of the society. The result is that we have two vastly different sections of the society each one looking at the other with blatant contempt. Again, note that the contempt is mutual and it is a dangerous harbinger.
One section is forward looking, western, modern, savoring the freedom and liberty that exists in the world and marching ahead at a scorching pace. The other section is caught in its traditional web, unable to release itself from biases and locked and adamant to be in a status quo. The former wants India to be like the western world. Is frustrated at its slow adoption. The latter frustrated with the way the former is behaving.
India has always found peace in tolerance. Be it the British or the Mughals or even before, tolerance has always been our virtue. It could be debated whether it was the best strategy but when we refused to tolerate it had usually resulted in chaos. While there is evidence that chaos has yielded something good, it's always tricky to predict the result.
I hope the section of the society which has the capability to tolerate finds a middle path and takes the other half along with it. In my opinion, any measure that we take ignoring the other half and considering only one half, however right it may be, is guaranteed to be a failure and cause chaos. And we just cannot afford that.
The first step is to acknowledge their hatred towards our way of life and understand where it comes from. In my opinion, only then a solution will emerge. We all enjoy and want freedom and with that comes a responsibility as well. The responsibility towards the society. It is easy to say that we are not to blamed if they are "behind". Can we ignore those that we think are too behind and do what we think is right? Can we look down upon those who think that we are "modern"? Debatable. I think we cannot if we want to live together.
Note: I'm not trying to say we have to adjust and live according to the other half.
