Back when I was an NRI (I hate
that term; maybe I’ll come up with a more appropriate one soon), on the rare
occasions when I came across something remotely ‘racist’, like for instance an
American TV show featuring somebody on the road stopping to worship the holy
cow et al, I used to think we Indians, like a lot other people from different
cultures, are probably the most stereotyped for things that in the modern age
even in India might be considered quite ridiculous. Perhaps it used to occur
more frequently few decades back, but in New Age India, boy, you don’t wanna
know that even first world countries will be put to shame when it comes to
westernization and technology.
But well let me confess, I was
wrong. Ha! But the latter part of my assurance that India is still at the
forefront of technology holds true though. When I landed in Pune a year
back, driving around cows (holy and the others) became a routine event on my
way to and from work. And strangely enough, people who look too busy to even
let a bunch of school kids cross the road, stop to worship the cow – this time
the Holy one! Amusing, I found it in the beginning and some part of me sought apology
from the random American director whom I had cursed earlier for being ‘racist’.
But then again the cows in turn, I’m not sure whether they really know they are
being treated godly or not, sure started taking all this worshipping quite
seriously I assume. For, these days, they just decide to sit right in the
middle of the road! And quite unperturbed people continue to ply around them.
Peace,
$ur
