Facts About India to Make Every Indian Proud

[abhishek]

Wow, when I checked this thread yesterday I hoped it'd die out quietly. Now it's up to four pages.

<heresy>
This thread stirred more embarrassment than pride in me. I was really frightened of this kind of groupthink even when I was a kid in school in India.

One of the interesting phenomena that I was exposed to was how iconic figures involved in the independence movement became idolised, almost to the extent of pop stars. The tragedy here is that many of the important values these people stood for are forgotten (there is no warts-and-all approach). For example, (this gets on my nerves a lot) neither the textbooks nor teachers at my very-religious school cared to mention Nehru was an atheist.

Although much of Indian society respects individual autonomy, Indian nationalism tends to take this away from people who are deemed worthy of national pride. I might feel slightly proud if I heard Vinod Khosla, Vinod Dahm, or Rajiv Gupta say something nice about India; I feel no pride if 'Biology' claims them on India's behalf.

When 3.22 million Indians have to move to the US to put themselves to good use, that says nothing nice about India. It is hardly a matter of pride that they feel unable to perform and get deserving returns in India. Now don't pin this solely on politicians -- I'm sure there's a lot more at work here.

I'd better cut myself off right here, before I fan any more flames.
</heresy>

Don't get me wrong, there are many things that can make me proud of India; just like many things that can make me proud of humanity in general, or any given subset thereof. What I dislike is the single-minded nationalistic view -- bordering on inverse racism -- that is prevalent in India. Is it not possible to "work towards the welfare of India" rationally and without all the drama?

 

[heman]

i knew this guy is crazy ...but this post made up to 5 pages that's very surprising...i don't believe that India is not gr8 but it should have been posted in a right manner...

 

[the number 42]

I have great respect for India and Indian people, but blind nationalism is ugly regardless of which nation is being debased by it.

 

[vsage]

My *opinion* of those noteworthy facts listed by the OP are that they're nothing to be proud of. Given the medical system in this country is going down the crapper and distrust for major corporations is very high, why cite that so many of the people involved are Indian? That implies to me they're simply following money around where it's imbalanced. Also, these same Indians in positions of power have a tendency to be so pro-India like the OP that they start operations in India, which hurts the American economy. A vast majority of the great thinkers in history died poor, not on piles of money.

Perhaps the most respected person I ever knew of who came from India isn't even mentioned by you: Srinivasa Ramanujan. He was one of the most important mathematicians of his time - and interesting too. Kaku writes in his book Hyperspace that British mathematician Godfrey Hardy with Ramanujan at the time, while sitting on a bench, pointed at a taxi cab and remarked at the number on the cab, 1729, was boring. Ramanujan promptly replied that it wasn't boring at all: 1729 is the smallest number expressable as the sum of two cubes two different ways. You do know he died because his India-instilled convictions were so strong that he simply couldn't take the meat-eating English society? Think if a mind like that had lived in a more liberal country from the beginning. He could have had decades more of productivity.

That's not to say I'm racist against Indians, I just don't approve of their society's view on money and prestige. They're hard-working - probably more so than the average American - and intelligent, but the cultural differences are a little hard to take as a person with a humble, poor, white family.

 

[chound]

You know I'd love to critisize India. I'm indian. But if anyone else critisizes India I'd love to boil himin hot oil.. Like some french idiots said India can't manage tsunami disaster by its own, I'd love to have personally met them and had a one on one with them!

 

[klusener]

Actually my Indian professor told me that 1729 incident in a different (and I a guess, more correct) way. Ramanujan was in the hospital suffering from an illness and Hardy came to visit him and told him the number of his taxi and Ramanujan, with his amazing quickness, responded by saying that it is the smallest number expressable as the sum of two cubes two different ways. But that is not the point here, your entire post made complete sense, until you came to the part about where you said that if he had been born in a different country he would have been more productive..

Think if a mind like that had lived in a more liberal country from the beginning. He could have had decades more of productivity.

You have got to clarify that statement, because there are certain things in India that made him the man he was. He married a 10 year old girl, if he was in America do you think he would have been able to do that? You would say who gives a damn, but having such a young wife gave him extra amounts of time that otherwise he wouldn't have had to work on his math.. But seriously, it was a very unreasonable comment for you to make, because no one can predict what would have happened if he had been born in America or England.. Also at that time period, white people were extremely racist, Hardy was an exception but if you hear accounts from actual Indian people, they tell you how racist the English were, so you have to take that into account, that might have hindered his work as well, if he had been in England from the start.

You also have to define what you mean by "from the beginning".. Don't feel that I am looking too much into your post, but these are just logical questions..

 

[chound]

The indians are kind of more religious and firm in certain ideas mostly becoz of the caste system which came in later years. And becoz of muslim and christian (I'm not critisizing muslims or christians) rule they didn't allow the majority Hindu population to prosper!

 

[chound]

Also at that time period, white people were extremely racist, Hardy was an exception but if you hear accounts from actual Indian people, they tell you how racist the English were, so you have to take that into account, that might have hindered his work as well, if he had been in England from the start.

You know the english used to post signs outside clubs stating "NO Dogs or Indians allowed". They used to think of us as lower than animals

 

[klusener]

You know I'd love to critisize India. I'm indian. But if anyone else critisizes India I'd love to boil himin hot oil.. Like some french idiots said India can't manage tsunami disaster by its own, I'd love to have personally met them and had a one on one with them!

I love India especially for the tsunami incident, man. Manmohan Singh is awesome to refuse other countries' aid, because even though we are the third-highest hit country on the casualty list, we refused aid so that Sri Lanka and Indonesia can get even more help.. These kinds of things make me happy..

 

[klusener]

The indians are kind of more religious and firm in certain ideas mostly becoz of the caste system which came in later years and becoz of muslim and christian rule!

Well, the caste system was brought in place by the Aryans first. You know the Dravidians (that's me) used to live in India, but the Aryans came from Europe and the Dravidians had to move down south and in the middle of India. The Aryans made the more darker-skinned Dravidians the lower caste and the lighter-skinned (the Brahmins, that's why to this day Brahmins are a lot whiter) the upper caste.

 

[chound]

Not only politicians are responisble for the degradation of India. Most indians are not entreprenuers. They would rather be satisfied with a stable govt job rather than start a good business. This is also becoz of the caste system. Moreover huge pop low resources etc also contrib to it. No educated Indian would want to mix with politics. This mindset should be removed.

 

[chound]

Well, the caste system was brought in place by the Aryans first. You know the Dravidians (that's me) used to live in India, but the Aryans came from Europe and the Dravidians had to move down south and in the middle of India. The Aryans made the more darker-skinned Dravidians the lower caste and the lighter-skinned (the Brahmins, that's why to this day Brahmins are a lot whiter) the upper caste.

I too am a dravidian.

 

[klusener]

That's good. :-)

But what distresses me is the Hindu-Muslim/India-Pakistan fights, because who are Muslims/Pakistanis? They are Hindus who were converted to Islam when the Mughals came, we have no reason to fight, because if you go back a couple of generations, we are nothing but brothers and sisters. But hatred is too deeply entrenched on both sides for this ideology to change.. Even if we can't get back together (become the same country again) we should atleast survive in peace not threaten each other with nuclear weapons..

p.s. where do you live, chound?

 

[sid_galt]

But what distresses me is the Hindu-Muslim/India-Pakistan fights, because who are Muslims/Pakistanis? They are Hindus who were converted to Islam when the Mughals came, we have no reason to fight, because if you go back a couple of generations, we are nothing but brothers and sisters. But hatred is too deeply entrenched on both sides for this ideology to change.. Even if we can't get back together (become the same country again) we should atleast survive in peace not threaten each other with nuclear weapons..

We can't live in peace until Pakistan mends its ways which is never going to happen. Personally if Pak didn't have nukes I would rather that India conquered it to end terrorism.

 

[chound]

I live in Chennai! I read somewhere that you were born in chennai

 

[klusener]

cool machan.. yappadi nee irukka? Yarukume teriyadhu namma yanna pasikitirukum.. gokul tamilian yendru nannaikurain, avan iku matone than puriyum.

anyway, i will see you later... :-)

 

[the number 42]

cool machan.. yappadi nee irukka? Yarukume teriyadhu namma yanna pasikitirukum.. gokul tamilian yendru nannaikurain, avan iku matone than puriyum.

anyway, i will see you later... :-)

PF is a public forum. Didn't anyone ever tell you its rude to whisper in front of others, or talk in a way that they won't understand? If you want privacy, use Private Messages.

 

[chound]

PF is a public forum. Didn't anyone ever tell you its rude to whisper in front of others, or talk in a way that they won't understand? If you want privacy, use Private Messages.

Sorry man. We just were overwhelmed by the feeling of meeting fellow-citizens. Thanks for your advice.

 

[Reshma]

Hey, I'm tamilian too but I live in Mumbai a.k.a. Bombay!

 

[klusener]

PF is a public forum. Didn't anyone ever tell you its rude to whisper in front of others, or talk in a way that they won't understand? If you want privacy, use Private Messages.

sorry..

it is been a long time since i have met a tamilian online, so just got carried away...

tamil and the other dravidian languages are amazingly similar to languages in africa ..if you go down south near Kanyakumari and stuff, people there are still really dark like Africans...

 

[Curious3141]

I'm Singaporean, ethnic Indian with close ties to India. My mom and my wife are Indian by birth.

I'm proud of much of India's accomplishments in the past, but I honestly think the country is a cesspool of corruption and hypocrisy now. And this saddens me no end.

Posting a litany of national "accomplishments" some of which are of dubious merit in a general international forum like this is arrogant and stupid. Even if 100 % of the things on that list are things to be truly and unambiguously proud of, it just isn't right to post it up like that. Remember that Hitler wrote much of the same sort of crap in his promotion of the German master race.

All nations, all ethnicities have something to offer. It's perfectly OK to be proud of your heritage, but what Biology did in his first post is flaunting somebody else's accomplishments in everyone else's faces. I despise this sort of hubris. It embarrasses me as an Indian.

Of course, Spender is just a plain ol' f**king moron troll. 'Nuff said about him.

And Klusener : "Nee enna paysukirai enru ennakku theriyum". (meaning I know what you're saying) I second the other poster who mentioned it's rude to type in another language on a forum like this. But now that you've explained that you got carried away, it's OK.

 

[spender]

Of course, Spender is just a plain ol' f**king moron troll. 'Nuff said about him.

What you want from me MAN ! ?


Everything I wanted to learn about Indian people I learned from watching Apu on "Simpson's".

 

[klusener]

..and everything i wanted to learn about American people I learned from watching Homer... ;-)

 

[spender]

Exactly !

 

[Curious3141]

OK, maybe I read you wrong, spender, you're more a joker than a flamer. You have my apologies.

 

[spender]

No problemo .
By the way, could you tell me Curious3141 what is the official language in Singapore ? I have been kinda wondering for a long time about that.

 

[jcsd]

No problemo .
By the way, could you tell me Curious3141 what is the official language in Singapore ? I have been kinda wondering for a long time about that.

I think it's Mandarin as my Grandafather used to live in Singapore and he could speak fluent Mandarin.

 

[spender]

Singapore is a mixture of different cultures, so I guess using English in offices would be logical.Mandarin must be spoken widely because there are lots of Chinese.
Singapore is sandwiched between Malaysia and Indonesia, it means that also their languages must be spoken.I'm so confused.

 

[mattmns]

I am confused here. Sorry, just a stupid american. Is this supposed to be about Indians, or India? The topic says facts about India. However, most of the thread talks about Indians. Also, I am not sure why you would be proud that so many scientist and engineers left India to come to the US to make money.

One more thing: Where are your sources? Did you make these numbers up, or did you do all the research yourself?

 

[spender]

Biology with his India thread is propably trying on us his April fools jokes.There are still 5 weeks till April 01 so he going to have to think of something else,maybe like this; India's first astronaut landed on Sun.Ha Ha Ha Ha !