"If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
And if you love people, you have no desire to judge them."

Hello Indian

The Indian Story(yes, its not short, but you got to read this one)...

YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke, the airline is the worst in the world, and mail never reaches its destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.
YOU keep saying all this and more.

What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore.
Give him a name - YOURS.
Give him a face - YOURS.

YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground Links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM.

YOU comeback to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity.

In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU?

YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramazan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to "see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else."

YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88kmph) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta hai sala main kaunhoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost."

YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Hawaii, Australia or New Zealand.

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston?

We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own.

You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground.

If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country why can't you be the same here in India?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay Mr.Tinaikar had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place," he said. "And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog does it? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?" He's right.

We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative.

We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stoop to pick up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin.

We expect the railways and airlines to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms, and clean up after we use it in consideration of other passangers.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.

This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women: dowry, girl child killing, domestic abuse, and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home.

Our excuse? "It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my son's rights to a dowry." etc...

So who's going to change the system?

What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, other communities and the government.

But definitely not me and YOU.

When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand. Or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse the country.

Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged for money.

Dear Indians,
This write-up is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....

I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....

"ASK NOT WHAT INDIA CAN DO FOR US, RATHER WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA PROUD OF US"

Or as Gandhiji said "You must be the change you wish to see in the world".

Lets do what India needs from us.

Always visit ePremal at http://epremal.tripod.com/.

Attending a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to her mother, "Why is the bride dressed in white?"

"Because white is the color of happiness and today is the happiest day of her life." Her mother tried to explain, keeping it simple.

The child thought about this for a moment, then said, "So, why is the groom wearing black?"

AIDS will kill 70 million people over the next 20 years unless rich nations step up their efforts to curb the disease, the United Nations warned on July 2, 2002 in a report showing the epidemic is still in its early stages. More than 40 million people worldwide have AIDS or are infected with HIV, the virus that causes the disease, up from 34 million two years ago, and infection rates are climbing, said the latest report from UNAIDS, the agency that coordinates U.N. AIDS programs. (Reuters Graphic)

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A massive solar eruption, more than 30 times the length of Earth's diameter, blasted away from the Sun on July 1, 2002, and was captured in a picture taken by the SOHO satellite. The a fiery-looking 'leg' in the lower-left corner of the image is what astronomers call an eruptive prominence, a loop of magnetic fields that trap hot gas inside. If eruptions like these are aimed at Earth, they can disturb Earth's magnetosphere, but this one was not directed at our planet, a spokesman for SOHO said. (NASA/Reuters)

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Thousands of volunteers pose naked for New York based photographer Spencer Tunick at the Forestal Park in Santiago Chile, Sunday, June 30, 2002. (AP Photo/Santiago Llanquin)