Is one of the very few lessons which i still remember vividly. Gandhiji's writings on how he tried to imitate the English Gentleman is something etched in my memory. Forward 50 odd years and the author gets a chance to travel abroad and Well! Well!! Well!!!! the author is reminded of that same lesson.
When i look at People trying so desperately hard to prove to the citizens of the Western countries that they too are as developed(???) as my Western friends, i am baffled. What makes these people do this? What makes my own friends and colleagues speak with me in a neutral accent and then speak with my Western friends in a....well, Can i Call it American?? Nope its neither here nor there accent? What makes them try and owe the alien culture on themselves ???. Thankfully they dont spend as much as their Western Counterparts.
I am not generalizing, i never do that. Its just that most of them whom i happen to meet with or speak with fall in this bracket. What makes them do this? Are they going by the saying "When in Rome, Be a Roman", Well, then here is a question, Will these fellas do the same things, if they are posted in Kenya or Carribean Islands? I wonder.....( I might be wrong, though).
Well I am no psychologist, but i feel this is due to the sub conscious feeling that Westerners are superior to us. Citizens of US n Europe are God to us. Hence the attitude,We must do whatever we can to please them. This makes us bend before them. Not for a moment I am sayin that we must fight with them and assert our authority. But am saying that sub consciously most of these people are also racist in nature. They look down upon Blacks ook up at Whites and stoop low before the Whites and cry Foul terming their dominance as Racism. My question is who asked u to bend so low and make the other person think that he is superior?
Whats in a name? goes a saying, i will go ahead and ask Whats in the color of skin? or for that matter the nationality, after all these nationalities are all notional. We at the end of the day are humans and i dont see any disparities between a whte skinned person and a black skinned one. I am not advicing, some might feel that I am jumping the gun here(well could be true..), but all i would say is Plz be Urself. Forget about Imitating, its a cheap thing for us to spend our time on. U are what U are and be proud of that.
P.S: At the time of writing this, Blasts have rocked the Nation. Well, Condolonces to all the family members of the dead. Hope the society stands united and helps them get over this irrecoverable loss.
