Once I reached Amsterdam, I wanted to continue writing my observations about the western society and the everyday business of life they conduct in a globalised and increasingly integrated world. Howvever, something happened on the day Ilanded in Amsterdam. Mind it , it was not the first time I had come to Europe but this time was a difference. I decided to get out of the Hotel and move to a home stay arrangement in the area of Waalstraat from my hotel at Rambrandt square. In the end it turned ot to be a good decision as it allowed me to witness first hand how an elderly lady conducts her day to day life in a global city.
I must tell you that Dutch really take care of their citizens. At her age of 65, she is bubbling with a ideas and looking to start her own business. This is not to supplement her income but to keep herself busy. Dutch are smart people and they do understand the number game or the money game. The city is extremely travel friendly and full of cycles. We in India will find these cycles very ugly but the emphasis in Holland is not the beauty of cycles but the service of cheap transport and keeps them healthy too. In whole of Amsterdam, I did not see anyone with a big paunch. Women are slim and extremely beautiful and men too look fit and slim unlike the Americans.
The city has dedicated cycle corridors all across and they do have a good public transport system as well, Trams and buses €2.7 for anywhere. I was staying very close to the Amstel riverand there is a huge, in fact a grand park just behind the house of lady. This park was built by the government to keep the citizens employed during the great recession and has continued to extend it. The river banks are cemented with lot of small restaurants on the banks and very vibrant business district too. My old organisation has an office here too. The big bosses sit here. Dutch have a very vibrant sailing culture and on the weekends one can see people sailing up and down the river with friends/ Family. One Can rent a boat for €25 - 50 a day, depending on size. Crime is virtually zero & Cops are courteous.
State supports citizens by way of subsiding education with no special privilege groups. Idea is for the citizens to become productive assets for the country. The Dutch family I stayed with said ,” We know that we don’t have much of natural resources or warrior culture to sustain arms industry. We are traders historically so we must educate ourselves and state ensures that part.” This thin stayed on my mind.
Depression:
Depression:
On my way back to the Airport, the sentence kept on ringing in my head with the key words, which the lady used as a matter of fact, ‘Historically’, ‘culturally’. As the general tendency for us a humans to start comparing , I too fell in the trap and started looking for what defines India or rather what is that key word that can help me understand what we are a race of people and what is the DNA of Indic people.
As a knee jerk reaction, the first image that my mind conjured up emphasizing the word, ‘History’ was of a wealthy nation and largely peaceful people, who never ventured out to conquer, maim or kill. Mother nature was generous in its bounties. I started feeling happy thinking about it and actually made a mental justification of our wealthy civilization..
1.
Biggest arable land area
2.
Extremely developed commercial systems – System of lending (Marwaris)
3.
Pursuit of Knowledge (We virtually rever the educated) – Brahmins drove their superiority thanks to the education
4.
Moral value that have stood the test of time
Just then the train stopped at Schiphol airport and broke my chain of thoughts. Suddenly I realized that we as a nation were still dirt poor. What is wrong with us? How come the people with such elevated rationality and wealth of understanding the most absolute of subjects, mathematics lag behind in wealth generation?
Wait, the bad part is that the images that my mind conjured up thinking of history are not what the government of India teaches us. Worst it they have found one convenient excuse for the decline, British rule. How about the rule of Muslim emperors before that? What impact they had on India? Right from the day King Dahir was defeated by Qasim (Thanks to the superstitions & inability to understand the new kind of war), Killed and Sind looted and taken to the governor of Hajjaj, we have witnessed a culture that was and is alien to us.
The government is silent on this? What impact could a decision by King Ashoka have on the Psyche of a civilization? Mind it we were a warrior civilization. What stops GOI to do a meaningful research on the subjects that have impacted us? I have never herd any GOI book talking about us a race of people or a people with distinct values.
Our contact with Islamic hegemony lasted for almost 4-5 Centuries. Did it change the social moorings, education system or the creation of wealth? What are the factors that can be responsible for our continued poor show even after 65 years of Independence? Remember, South Korea & China gained Independence around the same time and look at the progress they have made.
I started analyzing one by one, Quest turned into desperation and ultimately depression as I was confronted with the realities of the modern republic of India. How did the things come to this? I tried to analyse at 3 basic levels of freedom and the role played by the state in shaping, moulding society..
1.
Political freedom
2.
Economic freedom
3.
Social freedom
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