Indians

I just went to Bangkok a couple of weeks ago. As always, the trip abroad put into sharp relief the shortcomings that Indians, as a people, have.

Indians are anxious, boorish, cheats, crude, cunning, dirty, disgusting, greedy, ignorant, ill-mannered, impolite, narrow-minded, noisy, nosy, pretentious, selfish, smelly, uncouth, under-confident, unhealthy, unhygienic and unkempt.

I planned to start this paragraph with a '...But they're also...' and list out all the good qualities but, umm...well...nothing jumps to mind, quite like way that an elephant doesn't jump. Instead, let me say this. At the end of three days away from home, I missed India. Not everything about it. I loved the (relative) order and cleanliness of Bangkok. But I felt a slight homesickness after a while. I guess, come what may, I am an Indian at heart. No matter how much I sniff at its failings and no matter how much I am disgusted by the bureaucracy and politics and government officials, it is my home. It is where I grew up. It is where my family and friends are.

I suppose, in the end, I'm just as bad as they are.