Response: The Death of the Reasonable Indian.

This is my response to Suchitra Vijayan's blog “The death of the reasonable Indian ?”:

In my opinion (mark these words as you read further), in every human being,

[A] There is what we call national pride (clubbed with patriotism), and

[B] There is the will to make things better (nothing is perfect. is it?)

To some people, [B] gets sidelined because they refuse to admit to what is wrong under [A], and needs upheaval. This is what I call the ‘faux pride’, since it doesn’t make a progressive society.

To others, [A] causes them to notice what is wrong, to criticize it, and to make an attempt to better it. This is close to how I think too. You can’t improve something that you don’t even know is wrong.

Extremes of either would keep one tainted and away from performing a true citizen’s role. There has to be a balance. For example, bashing one’s nation always without providing the means to improve things would be a distortion of [B]. While neglecting everything that is wrong would be a distortion of [A].

In short, we are all different personalities, and love our nations in our own ways. Let us criticize what needs improvement, and leave personal opinions alone. So what if Radha’s thoughts are close to [A]? She has as much love for India as you do, would you not say?

The key is to not criticize each other so much, but criticize the system that led us to be this way, AND provide ways for improvement. With the risk of being blamed for over generalization, I would say that Indians (generally) love to criticize, without suggesting/providing means for a change.




Let’s first change this attitude, then we'll talk.

You may like to read a related blog on my website here.

Good luck!