We Indians are hypocrites to say
the least. And dare I say that, WE love being what we are not and we hate what
we preach . Last night, staring outside my apartment, all I could think was one
word.
Denial.
This is what we all live in. We
love to deny, even just for the sake of it. And this is where hypocrisy begins.
Have you ever felt, growing up that
you were not allowed to do the very things
that were taught to you? The holy grail of honesty on which we must have spent
a thousand pages each while growing up, goes into a toss when the very parents
and teachers tell you ‘Its life. You have to learn to live the way it
is!’.Ouch, wasn't that supposed to be something much simpler? When the lessons
on Selflessness disappear the moment you have to step out of your house, ‘Beta,
you have to be selfish to grow. Don’t share everything with everyone’ ,Just
when you thought the great moment of sharing had begun! The lessons taught on everything
except money just doesn't add up when you realize that you don’t even know how
to open a bank account while kids in States are getting their hands dirty on
Nasdaq. And when the realization creeps in that MONEY is everything. Well,
almost everything. So what if It can’t buy happiness? At least it can buy
things that make you happy! And then you curse everyone for teaching you all
the useless stuff, while you could have done a simple course on Money
management! All those lessons on modesty, where does it go when your own
parents spend a fortune on your sister’s wedding and then, crib the rest of the
life, how much it cost them! When they tell you that we love you beta more than
anything and that the western culture is bullshit and they (People in the west)
have no idea of a family. Now, when the moment to show love comes, when the
greatest step in life is being taken by you, of choosing your partner, the very
same parents will threaten you saying, ‘ we have done so much for you and you
do this! We will choose your spouse, for, it’s the price you have to pay for
what we have done for you’ and you thought
that love was what it was, till the Payback time! Talk of double standards! Or
tell us this definition a bit early! When all the talks of responsibility goes
into gutter and you are left wondering, ‘What the Fuck!’ And then the only thought
that is there is ’Why couldn't they tell us all these while we were growing
up!! Things could have been much simpler and easier.’ And this is just the tip
of the proverbial iceberg!
And if you thought that I have
something against parents, you are wrong! But then, we were never taught to
think big or different! No surprises there! I have something against everyone,
and that everyone is called society. To say that I am not a social person will
be an understatement of the same degree to which I am talking. And in that one,
I hate the word respect. ‘Beta, Money is not everything, Respect is.’ Alas,
what they forgot to mention was the fact that they are one and the same.
Money brings respect and those who say
that respect is what they live for, either have both of it or none of it!
Period. There’s no exception to this one. And then, Sex. Oopsey, I forgot, we
never heard that word. Forget it, When was the last time we saw our parents
hug. I didn't say kiss, for you know why. And then we are told we know the
meaning of love, not THEY. Society told
us that we just know what love is. The only thing, they forgot to mention, WHAT
exactly it is! They thought we would know. And they thought we would agree that they are right.
HOW COME?
And WHY?
The only thing that I get from
this is we are not meant to have our own opinions! But we were never taught or
allowed to have one, right? But more on this one later on. Let’s get back to
SEX. Or did it even start? Fine, the world’s most talked about topic, most
thought about, most planned about and the most fantasized about is never talked
about at all! Imagine the plight of a teenager having CAUGHT having a condom in
his/her pocket! And imagine her to be a girl! Or say, an I-Pill! The whole
world will try to hang her! And then think of the same girl, having been never
CAUGHT in the act, but, on a bed, being treated for AIDS! And the whole society, again reprimanding her of
the shame she has bought the family, including her own mother! This is what we
call love! And we say we value our family more than them! We have never seen
love in our family, yet we claim to love the way no one ever could. And to talk
about sex, which is, of not more, as much important as money (AGAIN!) is what
is never done. That’s what we need to know, for even if we accept that
pre-marital and other stuff is wrong(I don’t), it’s better to know it’s wrong
than not knowing what the hoopla is all about and, as with every other thing,
the thing we are not supposed to do, WE DO.
Isn’t that enough of a cue?
Denial!
We were taught that attitude is
bad. And yet, when we come to know the greatest success stories, stories of
those whom we were taught to emulate are some of the cockiest person the world
has ever seen! The irony! Having opinion, we have learnt is the single most
important factor in surviving and yet, I don’t remember a single time when we
were encouraged to have our opinion! Leave that, we were not allowed to have an
opinion on the job we choose to the partner we choose! We were always denied
what we thought to be the best for us. And from there, we learnt to disagree,
to deny everything that comes our way. For, this is what all we have learnt. And
from this we have started a vicious cycle.
Indecision.
Meekness.
Double Standards.
Hypocrisy!
And yet, we say we are the best! That Indian Culture is
the best! And every time we have to give an excuse, it’s the same. Indian
Culture is superior to the best. Is it so?
Part 2. Coming ..