Looking at the people around, I feel that I had a very carefree life compared to most. I have always got what I needed but maybe not what I wanted. My surrounding consisted of people who valued creativity and knowledge over material gains. Until very late I did not have any value for money. After high school I got into IIT and here too I was in a rosy world.
Meeting people and knowing them, seeing how they thought, what they valued, I have realised that I have been very lucky to have been brought up in such an environment. Recently, reading the book Immortals of Meluha I came across these lines :
All of India's problems at some level are due to insecurity among its people. Dowry, corruption, lawlessness, chaos. Insecurity is so deeply embedded in people's mind that even people near the top cannot stop thinking about material benefits. Parliamentarians, top bureaucrats scientists, engineers, nobody seems to be free to the grasp of this infection. Ministers try to amass enormous wealth to try and ensure the welfare of their family. Top Indian industrialists and serious money makers are regularly termed as misers by the foreign media. Brilliant students, continuously try to amass wealth, pursue an aim that provides money regardless of their passions, unable to unfetter the fears of insecurity. This article nicely portrays the thinking of the Indian rich.
What would have happened if Linus Torvald would have been a typical Indian. Would the world have seen linux and the magic of open source ? Always listening to one's parents and taking the safe bet may get you security, but it is not good for the society.
The country can only get out this mess through the creativity and hard work of its people, which is possible only when its citizen feel secure. Food, lodging, and protection against unlawful activities provided by a working judicial system are the basic necessities that unless afforded to any society, it cannot prosper. This I think should be the top priority of any government of the country. Security and Equality.
Meeting people and knowing them, seeing how they thought, what they valued, I have realised that I have been very lucky to have been brought up in such an environment. Recently, reading the book Immortals of Meluha I came across these lines :
In a society without security or stability, there are no intellectuals or businessmen or artists or genuises. Man is constantly in fight or flight mode. Nothing better than an animal.They immediately reverberated with my beliefs about why the Indian society, though having a vast pool of talented young men, lacks behind in many fields.
-- Amish Tripathi, The Immortals of Meluha
All of India's problems at some level are due to insecurity among its people. Dowry, corruption, lawlessness, chaos. Insecurity is so deeply embedded in people's mind that even people near the top cannot stop thinking about material benefits. Parliamentarians, top bureaucrats scientists, engineers, nobody seems to be free to the grasp of this infection. Ministers try to amass enormous wealth to try and ensure the welfare of their family. Top Indian industrialists and serious money makers are regularly termed as misers by the foreign media. Brilliant students, continuously try to amass wealth, pursue an aim that provides money regardless of their passions, unable to unfetter the fears of insecurity. This article nicely portrays the thinking of the Indian rich.
What would have happened if Linus Torvald would have been a typical Indian. Would the world have seen linux and the magic of open source ? Always listening to one's parents and taking the safe bet may get you security, but it is not good for the society.
The country can only get out this mess through the creativity and hard work of its people, which is possible only when its citizen feel secure. Food, lodging, and protection against unlawful activities provided by a working judicial system are the basic necessities that unless afforded to any society, it cannot prosper. This I think should be the top priority of any government of the country. Security and Equality.
