Duality of being Indian.

The duality of nature is in the core of an Indian. It's there and not there as the Indian nods his head both for yes and no. We speak like that as well, no? Whatever has to happen will happen and we are the legitimate children of destiny; yet we start collecting even before we are born. Despite the belief, families and parents have already decided the course of life for their children, aided by pundits and horoscopes. Children are born, not knowing if they will be that perfect one or the horror of horrors. It's all Karma yet we continue to kill our baby girls and burn those women on the pyres of piety, honor, and greed. Woe to the world which stays stuck in the many zeros of their debt in trillions; we Indians are different - we marvel at the very concept of zero that one of their own discovered many many centuries ago. We claim many 'firsts' but don't take responsibility for the mayhem and filth in the streets. We worship the Mahatma but continue to wage communal wars in his birth place.

Here is a land that worships the female form but nobody wants girls; it's the boys they are pining for; with the result the female gender will eventually dissipate and boys and men will be forced to turn merry and gay. That's good for the gay community, the world will chime but then Indians are not gay, at least not in the open. Men have wives and children and boy friends on the side. Families of such confused (foolish) men continue with their pilgrimages to Shirdi Maharaj and life in the land of a billion people goes on as long as the status quo is maintained. After all, one son is a doctor and the other son will be an engineer, if he doesn't stray on the gay path. In maintaining its status in the world, India will send its girls to colleges; it may frown upon sleeveless blouses and shirts but will keep its promises to the male gender of providing well-educated girls for their households. The girls needn't bother with the pretense of work; their dowry and fair looks will make sure of that. The darker ones need not bother with marriages; they are used to every prejudice there is.

Continuing with the binary nature of things, the two studies of medicine and engineering from the two institutes of Harvard and Oxford from the two countries of USA and England will lead Indian sons to become doctors and engineers. There are no other known disciplines or professions or educational institutions in India. That is where the prosperous will go; that is what Indian children must aspire to. Heaven forbid if teaching or theater or art or culinary work is mentioned. We don't do that kind of stuff in India; that is only done in the West where incidentally most well off Indian children will head to anyway  to get their masters and doctorates in medicine and engineering, after their parents have railed and ranted about the abominable culture of these countries! Consequently one in every five doctors in America will be Indian, but here he will have to ensure himself against the ire of patients who may not see him as god and when that happens, Indian parents and families will curse that goddamned West.

But just in case an obdurate child who wants to learn cooking (whoever heard of that) parents will ignore that as a passing fancy hoping that eventually that fancy will morph into business and ownership of all the restaurants in the world. In all this limited space of aspirations, the possibility of Shah Rukh Khansama and Meenakshi Khandarni of Bollywood will continue to bring in a silver lining through film mania but then the above two film stars knowing the wheeling and dealing of the film industry will eventually want their children to practice the safe and proven lines of medicine and engineering! There are other opportunities of IAS and IFS but these two are usually connected with politics along with the other activities of maiming and killing your opponents (common activity prior and during elections). Two new opportunities of becoming rich and famous opened up through Kaun Banega Lakhpati and Kaun Banega Crorepati but these are likely to fade because they go against the grain of the duality of Indian nature; you cannot be poor and win and there is no way you can aspire to be what you want to be - unless you want to be a doctor or an engineer of course!