Are we inferior?

It’s not new in India to speak high about the work of the West and the opposite about the work of an Indian. Across the fields, the opinion would be the same with paltry exceptions. Hearing this all these years had intrigued me with a question in my mind – “Are we really inferior?” I would like to share the thoughts that are flashed in my mind, the answers provided by Google and few other questions that are digging my brain.

You are inferior – long been these words are being whispered in our ears. How long? History has the answer. It was the time where the English, the Dutch, the Portuguese and many such traders were trying their hand to establish their factory in the so called ‘Land of Riches’. Through fair and foul means, each one of them had managed to establish their factories and as a consequence their products were trying their hand in the Indian market against Indian products.

The workmanship of Indians was such that they were one of the best in the then world. The blend of Indian, Persian and Greek delicacy was seen across all crafts. Unfortunately, for the infighting Indians, overtime, the factories became forts, tradesmen became soldiers, and companies became rulers. Europeans, especially the British and the French, were showering in the goods that came after the “Age of Enlightenment.” Capitalism started taking roots along with the Industrial Revolution. Investment was flooding, new machines got assembled and the unit cost of a product got cheaper, too cheap that it was able to negate the home advantage of ‘the Third World’.

Still a challenge remained, perhaps the last. Handmade products were much sought after by Indians than the industry made ones. Then came the Western disturbance and Westerlies with a whisper from Europe – “You are inferior”. With gun and words, the empire building Europeans were in a position to buy anything in India. Indians were made to sell raw materials and not finished products. Import tax was slashed on European products and homemade products were taxed. Export tax for Indian goods was over 300% - for example piece of cloth was sold at Rs.100 with more than Rs.75 going towards tax. Slowly, the artists and craftsmen were abandoning their trades. They lost their patrons – former royals of India, and then they were taxed to stop making finished products and finally, the whisper.

The whisper was sound enough such that its echoes are still reverberating in an Indian’s ears. It was a thought that was carefully planted, watered and nurtured by the colonists for their benefits. Centuries of delicate workmanship were lost in the sand of history. The past glory was forgotten and the slave life got saved in the mind.

Even after independence, much didn’t change. Caste discrimination remained, girls were still the secondary sex, corruption swelled and so does the echoes of the whisper. Still we were taught to compare two things – the West and the East, the high and the low, the White and the Black. It was inculcated in every Indian’s blood – by parents, teachers and by the society. On the global scale, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is being used. Among parents and teachers, marks and ranks take primacy. Comparison by earning is reserved for the society. Everyone compare; everything got compared.

Comparison became necessary. It’s the point where efficiency stood up. After all, all a chased deer need is to outrun, not the lion but another deer, to see another day. A wildebeest, another prey, or a bison cannot compare its speed with that of a deer or a gazelle. It would be foolishness to do so and ten out of ten times the bison will land in the losing side – Comparison of the incomparable. The bison traded its speed for its mass (lions dare not to kill a bison mob), zebra traded its mass and speed for the confusing stripes and gazelles got speed.

The above fact should not be limited to the grasslands of Savannahs. Men inspire from nature and applying the same here won’t be an unwise act. Yes, we are comparing the incomparable. For the first 50 years after that historic midnight and Tryst with Destiny speech, we cocooned ourselves by comparing the Islamic republic of Pakistan and the Secular, Democratic Republic of India. We ran many races – in arms, in development, and international politics, as if we had only one opposition. India won every race but failed to win any cup.

Then came “the Asia Century” catch phrase. After winning every race against our North Western neighbor, we stretched our muscles against the People’s Republic, a race between a tiger and a dragon. Odds are clearly not in our favor. But that’s how it can be when we are inferior. But against Pakistan, we reigned supreme. So, we are not inferior. It’s a bad conclusion as we have pretended to compare India and Pakistan, though Pakistan didn’t, as we actually compared India with the West. Now the equation holds true – We are inferior!

All we failed to understand in all these years is that we have only one in this world with whom we can compare ourselves, to see just the progress – It’s us! An eagle with lesser values, a colonial leech, a dragon without democracy, a hammer and sickle dipped in blood, a slow but steady walking elephant, a racist kangaroo and a white colored rainbow are the ones we have compared. Sounds crazy? So does the result – We are inferior. 

India, as a nation, stands on the bedrocks of secularism, socialism, democracy, and individual rights and No first offence and non-alignment as State policy. No nation in the above mentioned has all these. Some are aligned, some has fewer rights and some are racists. So, how come these nations got qualified to get compared against India, a country that had a greater democracy, equality of rights and socialism as a goal? A city state like Singapore can easily be developed than a nation which itself has many biomes. Using geographical terms, I just wished to show how the two countries are different in every aspect and cannot be put to comparison in the same weigh. 

My country had a rich past. My country is having an aspiring present. My country will have a bright future. Shortage of food is a thing of the past, the chain of bondage was long been broken and the prediction that India will not stand united after a decade of its independence was proved to be a harbinger’s lie. I can compare an India that has begged to feed its people and an India that is exporting agriculture surplus, an India that was refused a super computer and an India that is achieving in indignation, an India that was a pawn in global politics and an India that is a Grand Master. Are we inferior?