Of Underdogs and Dogs
By Kamal
Sunavala
It is
strange how some things never
quite go away, including bad habits. The world seems
to have been quite unable to shake this particular one
off. Badmouthing. Whether it be things or people or countries,
this form of verbal bashing has not only sunk deeper
into our psyches but seems to have taken on a literary
life of its own. While I admit that it does produce a
laugh now and then over some brandy and cigars, surely
it would be folly to admit this habit into our lives
and then wake up only too late to discover that the unwelcome
guest has stayed forever. Without any attempt to confuse
you further, let me elaborate.
Two
decades ago or even as recent as seven or eight years
ago, India had won the distinction of being laughed at
by the international media. There were always reports
of its poverty, slums, dirt, disease and poor table manners.
Yes, people appreciated the great culture and beauty
it had to offer but ask those very people to spend more
than just a holiday in India and they would run straight
out the door. India had got used to that bashing. Not
that it didn’t give the world reason for it but it seemed
that the balance was somehow always tipped in favour
of cleaner, more advanced western countries, especially
the US. Never mind that sixty years ago, when India was
a young country, America was still busy trying to push
her women out of the workplace and couldn’t quite figure
out why native Americans should have any rights at all.
Europe sat back and waited for India to fail. And for
nearly fifty years took great delight in poking childish
fun, every time India stumbled and fell and tried - almost
in vain, it would seem - to stop its population from exploding
in more ways than one.
Something
I read in the Times of India today made me sit up and
remember all this. On one of the inside pages, at the
bottom, was a small article from a Czech news agency
which this grand paper chose to print - Man
hides out from police for five years by living under
mother’s kitchen floor. I read it over and over.
From all the things that are happening in the Czech Republic,
large and small, good and great, this is the one piece
of non-news that made it to an international paper read
by millions of people in at least three countries around
the world. And this brought me to remember, that for
a while now, I had seen similar pieces of news being
carried out in other papers as well. Things to make the
Czech Republic look smaller than it really was. In size
and significance. A young fledgling country being told
that it was so unimportant that it was ridiculous. People
living under kitchen floors, parents who couldn’t speak
English, a country that treated its gypsies badly and
the list goes on and on. The world had found another
underdog to kick in the ribs.
India
was off that underdog list now since it had fought and
scratched its way up the ladder and into the board rooms
of the steel and iron and uranium giants of the world.
Suddenly it wasn’t wise to blacken the editorial pages
with India’s poverty. Instead it would be better to talk
about grand Indian weddings where even Bill Clinton was
a guest. It would be better to talk about how Indian
Yoga had changed the world. The puppy had turned into
a fierce dog and there was no sense in trying to kick
it anymore.
I want
to give the new underdog a message. It takes a while
to grow up and be the darling of the pack. Bite, scratch
and fight. This isn’t a world of people filled with good
manners and generosity. And most certainly not to be
expected from countries who change their opinions and
their headlines without so much as the blink of an eye.
The irony of course, most definitely will lie in the
fact, that when the Czech underdog becomes a dog, it
will not think twice before kicking the next one in line.
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