Ye India hai, India

Indians have a knack of being leaders. In fact, I could go the distance and say that we Indians are born leaders. You want an example from my side, well consider it your lucky day I will give you one. Since the day I became sensible enough to understand the world a little, I have observed people with a relatively high degree of interest than you would expect from normal people. Luckily, while observing people I have been able to maintain a low profile to prevent myself from being labelled as a lunatic in a highly self-conscious Indian society. We live in a society full of hypersensitive individuals. We never get offended when our tirangaa, the national flag, is run over and stomped by us after each republic and Independence day. Half of the people reading this would not even understand the difference between republic day and Independence Day (true story). But let's not tread on that line as it is too dangerous( for me) as I could be labelled a traitor and made an outcast by the patriotic chauvinists. So, let’s come to the point. See the same tirangaa when disrespected by the foreign liquor companies or TV anchors wearing tirangaa sarees gets a very angry and outrageous response from the conscious patriots. Yes yes I know i am missing the wood for the trees, deviating from the topic at hand and all but let’s face it I am just being an Indian.

If I ask my respected readers as to how many care about the nation many would be amused as to what kind of a question is it. But when I ask the same readers about how many of them have given a bribe to a tout to make their driving licenses the responses would surely be overwhelmingly in affirmative. Not surprisingly then that many of us do not really have to go through a driving test before we actually get our driving licenses. In fact i know of a lot of people who have licenses to drive a four wheeler but, astonishingly, to put it in American vernacular “ don’t know shit about driving a 4-wheeler.”. TaDa.  The result of this is easily evident once you enter the Indian “death roads”.

Next time you are on a driving trail in the city, just observe where people stop in a red light stop. Almost everyone stops after the stop line. Shit. Not quite. If anything that’s only the start of  “Shit Happens”, as the moment the traffic light is about to turn green these sons and daughters of Schumachers and Rossi’s race  the accelerator and jump even before the lights turn green. Shit. Not quite again. See, these people are so much full of courage or total disregard for law (or are sure of the indifference of the traffic constable, whichever way you want to put it) that in spite of the traffic controller standing right there they jump the stop lines and red lights Shrrrrrrooom and Vrroooom they go. How we respect the law can also be gauged by one personal example of mine. Just the other day as I stopped before a stop line on a red light right here in my hometown Dehradun, I heard the blowing horn of a Honda City car, on finding out that the horn was directed at me, I replied it’s red light. So this guy, who looked suave and decent, started calling me names because according to him i could have moved even further than standing like a stupid person before a stop line. The lights turned green, and as this car passed by me the driver had a word of advise for me......Ye India hai, INDIA.........sure it is!!!!!

-Sunny Gusain