India- the next superpower. Booming economy. Skyrocketing incomes and dizzying real estate prices. Everyone is singing praises of India. And Indians. Suddenly it feels good to be Indian. We can walk around with our heads up. We can turn up our collars. But wait.
All is not well. The Delhi Commonwealth games , supposed to showcase the New India – is promising to be a collosal disaster. Corruption. Incompetence. Structures collapsing in the full glare of world media. Unsafe venues. Faeces in the residences. Muddy doggy footprints on the beds. You name it.
Media is having a field day. One picture is of a huge billboard of the Games Mascot, dwarfing a tiny barefoot urchin, dressed in rags, and crouching on a dusty pavement. A handcart loaded with games signages and other articles pushed by a half dozen sweating emaciated laborers, against the backdrop of a spanking new stadium. A collapsed footbridge, and hundreds of police, officials and other on-lookers. All standing around, many pointing in different directions. No one seems to be doing anything. And appalling conditions in the facilities – as witnessed by contingent members from different countries. And the most damning quote: “The Indians may have unwittingly brought about the demise of the Commonwealth Games. For good.”
And closer to home, the Indians are not getting any good press either. Two Indian lawyers (popular perception being : this is arguably the worst combination of race and profession) are suspected of having carried out cold blooded murders of several people. And one of the victims is believed to be a millionaire from India. The story henceforth loses all pretense of reality and is unfolding like a Tamil mega-serial. There is the wife, who turns out to be not the wife. The real wife suddenly appears. Everyone is talking about he dead man’s money and what they are entitled to. Now, the story heats up. An alleged million ringgit ransom demand by two police officers from Bukit Aman. And of course: the officers were Indian.
And another story on todays's front pages: an Indian man and his wife abused an Indon maid, triggering riots in Indonesia against Malaysia.
All is not well. The Delhi Commonwealth games , supposed to showcase the New India – is promising to be a collosal disaster. Corruption. Incompetence. Structures collapsing in the full glare of world media. Unsafe venues. Faeces in the residences. Muddy doggy footprints on the beds. You name it.
Media is having a field day. One picture is of a huge billboard of the Games Mascot, dwarfing a tiny barefoot urchin, dressed in rags, and crouching on a dusty pavement. A handcart loaded with games signages and other articles pushed by a half dozen sweating emaciated laborers, against the backdrop of a spanking new stadium. A collapsed footbridge, and hundreds of police, officials and other on-lookers. All standing around, many pointing in different directions. No one seems to be doing anything. And appalling conditions in the facilities – as witnessed by contingent members from different countries. And the most damning quote: “The Indians may have unwittingly brought about the demise of the Commonwealth Games. For good.”
And closer to home, the Indians are not getting any good press either. Two Indian lawyers (popular perception being : this is arguably the worst combination of race and profession) are suspected of having carried out cold blooded murders of several people. And one of the victims is believed to be a millionaire from India. The story henceforth loses all pretense of reality and is unfolding like a Tamil mega-serial. There is the wife, who turns out to be not the wife. The real wife suddenly appears. Everyone is talking about he dead man’s money and what they are entitled to. Now, the story heats up. An alleged million ringgit ransom demand by two police officers from Bukit Aman. And of course: the officers were Indian.
And another story on todays's front pages: an Indian man and his wife abused an Indon maid, triggering riots in Indonesia against Malaysia.
And deeper in today's paper, news from a Jail in South America. The inmates are having some dance program, and the inmate featured prominently is: a Malaysian Indian.
Indians everywhere are really chining.
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