The other day I was reading an article by the venerable Tony Schwartz,author of 'Be Excellent at Anything' and his contention was that after Superstorm Sandy when Americans had to live without electricity,drinking water and other amenities,he realised the value of each once he had the heater back on!
Now in India we live through scarcity almost everyday in a million myriad ways.It makes us fatalists and turn to God because we dont have a psychiatrist to share our angst(India has 1 shrink per 10,00,000 people) and we believe that 'whatever will happen,will happen'.
It has been the secret of success of a million Americans,Canadians,British,Australian citizens of Indian descent who left villages without electricity,who could not dream of affording to fly in an aeroplane and some whose land was in hock to moneylenders.Farmers who saw their crop rot after the harvest due to lack of storage facilities.
They found paradise in the western social welfare states where citizens where valued rather than being treated as a pack of rats and the contribution by these NRIs is now legendary.
Alas in India not much has changed for those at the bottom of the ladder,the every day race for resources,food,shelter.The endemic systemic corruption.
Yet at times we ask ourselves...'What is Right in my life?We are joyous for what we have rather than what we don't when we pass the beggar in the street,the person with physical handicap trying to board a train etc and we thank god for blessing us with vitality.Indians do a lot of charity...urorganised...on the street...that is sometimes the only social security to the beggars,lepers etc
Yes, We can be self-involved and self-serving, but that's not all of whom We are. Our imperfections are part of us, but they don't define me. It's not a zero sum, either-or game, which we've often assumed it is!
