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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00115 Sep 2007

 
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Excerpts from talk on “India and Indian Culture” delivered at Alterra Sterling House (Senior Care Facility) at 1277 S. Sawburg Rd, Alliance, OH 44601 on 22nd September 2007 (An All- American audience)

Dear friends”

 

 

SENIOR CITIZENS’ FACILITY

It gives me great pleasure to be in your midst today because the interests of Senior Citizens’ welfare is dearest to my heart. I was involved in the Senior Citizens’ movement back in India, being the Secretary of Senior Citizens’ Council, South Madras, Tamilnadu, India and an Executive Committee member of “Homes for the Aged” of Helpage India, a unit of Helpage International. To this day, we are running three Old age Homes, namely “Sai Charan”, “Vishranti” and “Senior Citizens’ Resort” at Muttukkadu, a suburb of Chennai as a service to humanity benefiting mainly the destitute and forlorn.

 

AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. CAYER, PROF. IN A.S.U, PHOENIX, ARIZONA

It happened 20 years ago, in 1987 during my first visit to USA. My son who was studying then in the ASU introduced me to Dr. Cayer, Professor, in the Department of Public Administration. He asked me what difference I noticed between life in India and life in the USA, having stayed here for over one year.

 

I answered him that I noticed honesty at least at grassroots level in the USA while the same could not be said about India. I said this not to please him but substantiated it with statistics. I explained to him that from time immemorial, India was a land of plenty, literally flowing with milk and honey that prompted Christopher Columbus to “search for India”, the utopia of those days. In fact, he believed to have landed at the golden land of India. That is why, the earlier settlers are known even to this day as “Indians”.

 

I told him that this interim degradation was the result of cumulative aggrandizement by foreign powers.  This was a bane that got revealed glaringly when the British “quit India”.

 

AS FOR THE STATISTICS:

Firstly,

1. Area wise, India was 1,222,510 Sq. miles while USA was 3, 794, 083 Sq. miles. (i.e.) USA’s area was more than  3 times that of India. Also, (GDP) Gross Domestic Product wise, the USA had 3 times more in infrastructure than India

 

2. Population wise, India had a population of 1,057,415,000 whereas the population of USA was 291, 680,000. In other words, India had more than 3 times the population of USA.

(Vide: Rand McNally the "Quick Reference World Atlas")

 

The ratio thus worked out to about 1:10. When there is a heavy pressure of population on each square mile of area and Gross domestic product, and resources were scarce,  (India 865 per Sq. ml and USA 77 per Sq. ml) naturally there would be rat race and dogfight because everyone had to share the limited space and limited resources. The “Me first” syndrome had entered the fray in which honesty became the first casualty!

Secondly,

USA obtained its political freedom 200 years ago based on economic freedom first from England. You will remember the great filibuster of Edmund Burke on how “Taxation without representation” was unjust and how he urged the need for Britain’s “Reconciliation” with the “Colonies” that led to the ‘Boston Tea party”

 

But, India got political independence first in 1947 without corresponding economic independence. This led to a sudden vacuum in the political field and there was a race among political leaders to take advantage for personal aggrandizement. Selfish motive became the key in the process and honesty had its greatest beating!

Thirdly,

Historically speaking India unfortunately was subject to slavery for over 700 years under Mohammedan rulers and Muslim rulers and for over 150 years under the British rulers whose only aim was to loot the country and leave it pathetically impoverished. You will remember how the Kohinoor diamond and Peacock throne were snatched from the prized treasure of India by these foreign marauders. When suddenly the country got freedom, thanks to the Sathyagraha of Mahatma Gandhi and the brave Freedom fighters of the day, in spite of the best intentions, the Indian leaders could not cope up with the vacuum created which opened up opportunities for everyone who raced to “get rich quick”. To obtain quick results there had to be the sacrifice of basic honesty!

 

THE NEXUS BTWEEN INDIA AND THE USA

While history of USA commenced with the landing of Columbus some 200 years ago, and could be reckoned in terms of only centuries, the real history of India dates back in terms of millennia - may be 200,000 years ago. The infrastructures built to suit the population in those distant periods could not cope up with the population explosion that had occurred since, though some marginal improvements were made here and there. So, it is not fair to make a comparison of social conditions to day between a developed nation like the USA and a developing nation like India.

 

However, these are not without some common features like -

-         Both are the World’s greatest democracies.

-         Both strive to achieve for the world universal peace and mutual understanding.

-         Both are the virtual leaders in nuclear field and other scientific breakthroughs.

-         The divine eagle that is deemed the vehicle of Lord (GaruDa) has been adopted as the national bird in the USA.

{How these facts relate to Indian / Hindu culture in general and Srivaishnavam in particular, we will see in the subsequent postings}

(To Continue)

Dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

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