| Dear friends.
i hv recd this mail from a great
friend...would like to share with u
all...pls spare 600 seconds...
===============
the former president of india dr.
a. p. j. abdul kalam 's speech
in hyderabad . *
why is the media here so negative?
why are we in india so embarrassed
to recognize our own strengths, our
achievements?
we are such a great nation. we have
so many amazing success stories but
we refuse acknowledge them--- why?
we are the first in milk
production.
we are number one in remote sensing
satellites.
we are the second largest producer
of wheat.
we are the second largest producer
of rice.
look at dr. sudarshan , he has
transferred the tribal village into
a self-sustaining, self-driving
unit.
there are millions of such
achievements but our media is only
obsessed in the bad news and
failures and disasters.
i was in tel aviv once and i was
reading the israeli newspaper. it
was the day after a lot of attacks
and bombardments and deaths had
taken place.
the hamas had struck. but the front
page of the newspaper had the
picture of a jewish gentleman who
in five years had transformed his
desert into an orchid and a
granary. it was this inspiring
picture that everyone woke up to.
the gory details of killings,
bombardments, deaths, were inside
in the newspaper, buried among
other news.
in india we only read about death,
sickness, terrorism, crime.
why are we so negative?
another question: why are we, as a
nation so obsessed with foreign
things? we want foreign t. vs, we
want foreign shirts. we want
foreign technology.
why this obsession with everything
imported. do we not realize that
self-respect comes with
self-reliance? i was in hyderabad
giving this lecture,when a 14 year
old girl asked me for my autograph.
i asked her what her goal in life
is. she replied: i want to live in
a developed india . for her,
you and i will have to build this
developed india .
you must proclaim. india is not an
under-developed nation; it is a
highly developed nation.
do you have 10 minutes? allow me to
come back with a vengeance.
got 10 minutes for your country? if
yes, then read; otherwise, choice
is yours.
you say that our government is
inefficient.
you say that our laws are too old.
you say that the municipality does
not pick up the garbage.
you say that the phones don't
work, the railways are a joke,
the airline is the worst in the
world, mails never reach their
destination.
you say that our country has been
fed to the dogs and is the absolute
pits.
you say, say and say. what do you
do about it?
take a person on his way to
singapore . give him a name -
yours. give him aface - yours. you
walk out of the airport and you are
at your international best. in
singapore you don't throw
cigarette butts on the roads or eat
in the stores.
you are as proud of their
underground links as they are. you
pay $5 (approx. rs. 60) to drive
through orchard road (equivalent of
mahim causeway or pedder road )
between 5 pm and 8 pm.
you come back to the parking lot to
punch your parking ticket if you
have over stayed in a restaurant or
a shopping mall irrespective of
your status identity....
in singapore you don't say
anything, do you?
you wouldn't dare to eat in
public during ramadan, in dubai .
you would not dare to go out
without your head covered
in jeddah .
you would not dare to buy an
employee of the telephone exchange
in london at 10 pounds ( rs.650) a
month to, 'see to it that my
std and isd calls are billed to
someone else.'you would not
dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88
km/h) in washington and then tell
the traffic cop,'jaanta hai
main kaun hoon (do you know who i
am?). i am so and so's son.
take your two bucks and get
lost.'
you wouldn't chuck an empty
coconut shell anywhere other than
the garbage pail on the beaches in
australia and new
zealand .
why don't you spit paan on the
streets of tokyo ? why don't
you use examination jockeys or buy
fake certificates in boston ??? we
are still talking of the same
you.
you who can respect and conform to
a foreign system
in other countries but cannot in
your own. you who will throw papers
and cigarettes on the road the
moment you touch indian ground. if
you can be an involved and
appreciative citizen in an alien
country, why cannot you be the same
here in india ?
once in an interview, the famous
ex-municipal commissioner of bombay
, mr. tinaikar , had a point to
make. 'rich people's dogs
are walked on the streets to leave
their affluent droppings all over
the place,' he said. 'and
then the same people turn around to
criticize and blame the authorities
for inefficiency and dirty
pavements. what do they expect the
officers to do? go down with a
broom every time their dog feels
the pressure in his bowels?
in america every dog owner has to
clean up after his pet has done the
job. same in japan . will the
indian citizen do that here?'
he's right. we go to the polls
to choose a government and after
that forfeit all responsibility.
we sit back wanting to be pampered
and expect the government to do
everything for us whilst our
contribution is totally negative.
we expect the government to clean
up but we are not going to stop
chucking garbage all over the place
nor are we going to stop to pick a
up a stray piece of paper and throw
it in the bin. we expect the
railways to provide clean bathrooms
but we are not going to learn the
proper use of bathrooms.
we want indian airlines and air
india to provide the best of food
and toiletries but we are not going
to stop pilfering at the least
opportunity.
this applies even to the staff who
is known not to pass on the service
to the public. when it comes to
burning social issues like those
related towomen, dowry, girl child!
and others, we make loud drawing
room protestations and continue to
do the reverse at home. our
excuse?
'it's the whole system
which has to change, how will it
matter if i alone forego my
sons' rights to a dowry.'
so who's going to change the
system? what does a system consist
of ? very conveniently for us it
consists of our neighbours, other
households, other cities, other
communities and the
government.
but definitely not me and you. when
it comes to us actually
making a positive contribution to
the system we lock ourselves along
with our families into a safe
cocoon and look into the distance
at countries far away and wait for
a mr.clean to come along & work
miracles for us with a majestic
sweep of his hand or we leave the
country and run away.
like lazy cowards hounded by our
fears we run to america to bask in
their glory and praise their
system. when new york becomes
insecure we run to england . when
england experiences unemployment,
we take the next flight out
to the gulf. when the gulf is war
struck, we demand to be rescued and
brought home by the indian
government. everybody is out to
abuse and rape the country. nobody
thinks of feeding the system. our
conscience is mortgaged to money.
dear indians, the article is highly
thought inductive, calls for a
greatdeal of introspection and
pricks one's conscience
too.... i am echoing j. f. kennedy
's words to his fellow
americans to relate to
indians.....
'ask what we can do for india
and do what has to be done to make
india
what america and other western
countries are today'
lets do what india needs from us.
forward this mail to each indian
for a change instead of sending
jokes or junk mails.
thank you
Of course I am an Indian and proud to be one. |
Advertisement 
0 
In 
