Why so insecure?? Part 2

While admitting students for an MBA class, one of the most important criteria for the selectors is diversity. They say it is important because it enhances the learning experience for not only the students but also the professors. People from different backgrounds, different religions and different cultures bring their own unique perspective of looking at any situation and when they all work together they are able to give a holistic solution to any problem. I am living this culture for last six months, and I can say it is funny, entertaining, interesting and beautiful. I have learned more in five months here than I could have learned in IIMs back home.

India, a melange of different cultures, languages, religions, could have been a guiding force for the world, where people from different cultures and religions could live together peacefully. It would have been so beautiful. Sounds pretty idealistic, isn't it, too good to be true. So What is the Status Quo? Have we achieved that?

Well, for this kind of culture to incubate, everyone needs to feel secure, secure about their daily needs such as food, water and shelter, secure about the safety of their loved ones who have gone out to study, work or watch a movie, secure that they will not be ridiculously killed by a random bomb blast, which is the most happening thing now a days, secure about their daughters, secure that they will not be raped or butchered just because they chose to travel alone after a certain hour of night, and secure that they will not have to face suspicious glances just because they chose to wear a head scarf or sport a beard and skull cap, secure that if God forbid some injustice happens, the judicial and administrative system of the country, being run by the government that they have elected wisely or should have elected wisely, will protect them.

Well it is so easy for me to sit in the security and comfort of my temperature controlled room, be all smug and say "OH! Why can't they just be secure and learn to respect conflicting opinions and enjoy the diversity" . And, it is a different thing altogether when one has to live through this chaos, where the answer to all the above questions is No!!.

So, what to do now? Should we harshly judge ourselves because we are not able to handle this delicate situation. Well, as always, I was being really hard on my country with my narrow outlook and then somebody said something that made sense; this person from the richer part of world commented that what I am expecting from my country is probably too much to ask too soon because the prosperity and sense of security that people enjoy in richer and more developed nations are results of the revolutions that took place more than 2 centuries ago. It has only been 61 years that India got freedom and it is doing reasonably well.

There are two kinds of variable that decide the destiny of a nation and life of its denizens, ones that you can control and the ones you don't have control over. Further, if you do not properly handle the variables that you can control, very soon, you will lose control over them also. (this is my decision model course in mba speaking .. ;).

Anyhow, what you can control is that your citizens have enough faith, while voting in the elections that the government will be their for you, will protect you in case of any riot or massacre, regardless of your faith or religion or state. Faith that you will be treated fairly by the police and judiciary of the country, whether you choose or choose not to sport a beard. Faith that your daughters are safe even if they are working late nights as Call Center employees. Faith that you will not loose your land, without being given a fair compensation for it, in case some multinational company wants to build a factory on agricultural land. Faith that you will be rehabilitated fairly, in case the government decides to build to a high profile, technologically outdated big dam, which will submerge everything under water, the house where you lived, the school where you studied, the temple where you worshipped. Faith that your chief minister will not give lame excuses(lack of proper roads in region) for not protecting you while your church was being burnt, while you were being raped in case you are a nun.

If the country can provide these securities to its people, then it would be much easier for its government to unite its citizens from all the religions, castes and states against the war on terrorism. It would be easier for government then to control those rioters, those hooligans, who are making crude bombs in their homes and disposing them off in the nearest dustbin while cleaning the house. Then, no Shankar would get killed for his gesture of kindness of picking a packet, intentionally dropped, to return to its owners who happen to be bombers let loose on a bike. I don't know, whether I am asking for too much, too soon.