Are we a snotty bunch of people? Given the way we like to flatter us and our fellow countrymen as a polite, accommodating race, the question might not seem appropriate. But this is how I am beginning to feel in the past few days.
First, we behaved in a ludicrous manner with Brangelina when they were here. And the couple themselves did nothing wrong. What instead we gained was the emergence of one of our cities on the global tourism map. Here were two of the biggest Hollywood stars, roaming freely carrying their children around towns in India, taking the Mumbai's trains, walking the seaside- what better endorsement could our Ministry of Tourism could have got? And yet we created a ruckus when none of their bodyguards supposedly 'abused' an Indian, something that none has been able to establish. With the treatment meted out to one of the most celebrated couple, it'll be hard to see India's already tattered image getting any better across the globe.
The next in line was our national cricket team's coach Greg Chappell. He made a remark about the political class in the mighty India. And the poor man has a defamation case filed against him. Apparently some respectable citizen of the country did not like to hear such remarks about his leaders. Freedom of Speech, anybody?
Why this rotten behaviour all of a sudden? Who doesn't overhear atleast ten profanities any given day, walking the footpaths, travelling the trains/buses? And who are these directed against- the country, the state of affairs, the people who are leading this nation of ours. And then, why don't these protectors of national honour do anything about it? Why are we picking minute issues and making mountains of them? Is it because of our new status as a 2.5th World nation? Or, as someone wrote in that column in DNA last week, is it that the frustration during years of subjugation under the colonial rule is now wanting to vent out?
Pictures: http://www.hellomagazine.com
Comments
The official 'one' of the pair I mean esp when Brad isn't along :P