“Hey, India is no longer the country of Snake Charmers”

Earlier today I was in a conference on web and suddenly a women from the western world asked me “which country I am from?” I replied saying “India”. The very next moment I received a message saying “Its the land of snake charmers, right?”. For a moment I was completely shocked, as how much we have developed in the past 2 decades are not under consideration. There is reason behind it & I want to clarify to the world about our country.

Most of the western countries, including the USA, used to think India of a country with snake charmers and ancient maharajas, where they should visit only for photo opportunities and buying some artifacts. But a couple of years back, we have a US President touring India, who says he is here because he wants to create jobs back in his country. Hasn’t time changed? Or are the people in west are just fooling themselves?

Our surge in the sky of development in the field of science and technology is a clear signal in making world know that India in no more a country of ‘snake charmers‘ which had been portrayed by most of the English writer’s in the past.

We are modern and developed in our own sense of term. The great creates norms and the weaker follows it. We have charted out our own destiny and will continue to do so whatever the odds may arise due to reasons many to count. The ‘Indian-ness’ in our blood will always be there to guide us in all our pursuits of development and progress. We have been able to command and control our destiny and help others to achieve for themselves.

There are a lot of myths about India:

1. “Travelling in India is dangerous” – No No No, We have definitely hit by few terrorists attacks in the pasts but our security system has improved enormously. Specially, the people from abroad are given high security & we welcome you all with respect. “Atithi devo bhava” in Sanskrit, what we call as “The guest is God” in English is the way we treat our Guest.

2.“India is a Country“ – India is not just a country, It a place where many different religion live together without any disputes. It is a country where everyone has right to do anything they want to. Four of the world’s great religions were born in India – Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. Today, the vast majority about 82% are Hindus, but with a population of 1.2 billion, that still means that the other religions are well represented. Islam, with 12% of the population, has 144 million followers.

It will be more simple to explain India in the following lines –

When we greet one another, we fold our hands in Namastey because we believe that God resides in the heart of every human being. We come from a nation where we allow a lady of Catholic origin to step aside for a Sikh to be sworn in as Prime Minister to a Muslim President to govern a nation of over 80 percent Hindus. It may also interest you to know that many of the origins to your words come from Sanskrit. For example maatr becomes mother, bhratr becomes brother, giamiti becomes geometry, trikonniti becomes trigonometry. We have 5600 newspapers, magazines in over twenty-one different Languages with a combined readership of over 120 million. We have reached the moon and back, but yet you people still feel that we’ve only reached as far as the Indian rope trick. We are the third largest pool in the word of doctors, engineers and scientists. Maybe your ancestors didn’t tell you that we have the third largest army in the world. And even then, I fold my hands in humility before you because we don’t believe we are above or beneath any individual. And Namastey.. 🙂