Part - V

Lessons for Indians - as People

The following figure of cultural polarity shows the Chinese caterpillar is moving closer to the American caterpillar, and away from its cultural counterpart – India.

India has got a lot of introspection to do, as a nation, and as a civilization. The fact that none of the deadlines were met during the preparation phase of Commonwealth Games 2010 in a way shows that Indians sub-conscious does not resonate with the concept of Linear Time yet, and has been ever so comfortable in its innate concept of Time being Circular – cycles of creation and destruction and recreation with a different Prajapati, Manu and Ved Vyasa each time. For a country with oral traditions has to be difficult to see value in written agreements. The way estimated budget for the games shot up while organizing committee members and the government were promising great games amidst all the chaos, substantiates that assumption. Knowing that taking accountability is a function of others seeking accountability, but the collectivistic out look of the society makes it sound a very alien and uncomfortable a concept. Fixing individual accountability in a society built up of people with collective identities – is virtually impossible, because the the concept of accountability has its roots in the concept of individualism. While individual self is not different from others, how to differentiate the individual output and thus accountability? Moreover, the indifference of the common man towards the inefficient preparations of the games, even after all the hullabaloo media had created, exemplifies the philosophy of defeat – staying content with the existing state of affairs – withdrawal in the garb of the concept of Karma. Thus, valuing ascription over result and not getting bothered about fixing the uncertainties. Just do your part and do not bother about result, because it is Karma – if something bad happens - it must happen. It happens because of bad Karma from the past, even past lives which must be satiated. If you do not have past bad Karmas and still bad things are happening, well don't you worry, everything will all be evened out: if not now, surely in the next life. Concept of cyclic time re-emphasized.

Maybe it will sound weird to us, but we all are these people underneath - subconsciously. We need to address these issues, stuck in our subconscious, as individuals, and as a society to achieve the success which in today’s world have been defined in terms of western ethos of individualism and ambition. It is not easy and will take conscious efforts on our part to do so. However, we have to do it: sooner or later; because we have already started that transition long back; and now it is just the matter of letting go off the past, and its cobwebs.