Student Opinion Survey

As we said in the editorial, our educational system is akin to one-way street. We at the Nav Prerna School believe that children learn best in an interactive two-way environment. This article is about student’s opinion on different topics. A total of 200 school students voluntarily completed the survey. The following section contains results from the survey.

 

1. Favorite Subject

Hindi, perhaps unsurprisingly, was the favorite subject of majority of students. After all, it is the easiest subject for native Hindi and Marwari speakers. If Marwari was one of the subjects being taught in school; I am sure it would have trounced Hindi from the numero uno position. Tough luck for students here, they need to learn English if they want to be ‘successful’ in today’s India. Since Mathematics followed by Sciences follows closely behind in the race for favorite subject, the students would do well in a society obsessed with science education.

2. Where would you want to live in future?

Most of the students studying at Nav Prerna School are from a rural background (more than 85 percent). When asked about where they would rather live, not surprisingly, they picked villages as the top choice. More than one-fifth of students want to live away from the villages. I believe it is because the aspirations of people have risen all over India and students are no different. Rapid urbanization coupled with economic compulsions would force most of the students to live in cities in the future. 

 

3. Which sports do you like the most?

When we asked the students about the sports they preferred most, cricket topped the list with close to four-fifth of the votes. Undoubtedly cricket is the unofficial national sport of India. Move over hockey (ouch that hurts for I am a big hockey fan!). We are a democracy with influential mass media and corporate interests. How else would you explain popularity of cricket in Sikar when you can’t play criket in Sikar because of sandy soils? No one gets any exercise while playing cricket. Why call it a sport in the first place? A better term would be recreational activity. What? Do you want me to include ludo, snake and ladder, carom, and watching movies in the list of sports as well? 

With cricket at the numero uno position, you do have a point old boy. Next time I will keep that in mind. In the meantime please pray for the souls of Indian sports lovers (if there are any left). Amen!

4. Favorite Cricketer

Professional cricket is entirely separate matter. It is an exciting sport. Professional cricket needs athleticism, skill, right temperament, and love of the sports to excel in the game. Indian cricket team has made its mark in the world arena. With our recent success in 20/20 cricket we have proved that we are second to none. No doubt the captain of Indian one-day team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is a favorite with the students. He has done what the veterans of Indian cricket such as Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly, and Dravid couldn’t. Bring home the world cup.

5. Which culture do you prefer?

Westernization is talked a lot in India (probably because it is confused with modernization and change). When you speak to men and women of certain age, this is all you hear. They lament about the youth following the ways of the west. I believe their complaints are more to do with their inability to cope with change. As Alvin Toffler would put it, they are in a state of ‘future shock’. Economic liberalization coupled with globalization has induced the pace of change to accelerate in the recent past. But our students are firmly grounded in Indian culture. More than 95 percent of Nav Prerna School students prefer Indian culture to western culture on any given day.

 6. Arranged Marriage or Love Marriage?

Arranged marriages are considered an important part of Indian culture. Many advocates of Indian culture consider this institution to be central to our ethos. In that case how would you explain marriage arrangements of Ram and Sita or Krishna and Rukmini? Anyways, our students stand by the arranged marriage system. Nine out of ten students consider arranged marriages superior to love marriages.

7. Which Indian customs should change?

Our students overwhelmingly prefer Indian culture. However, they are not blind to some Indian customs which treat a section of population inferior to others, or which treat women unfairly, or which are not compatible with our ideals of fraternity, equality, and democracy. Students do not like the practice of female infanticide, dowry, and parda pratha (hiding the face behind veil in presence of male members), which are manifestation of unfair and unequal treatment of women. Students are for inculcating a scientific spirit. They do not believe in the institution of mrityubhoj. 

8. Who is your ideal?

We aspire to become like our heroes, or at the very least, inculcate qualities from our heroes’ lives. Freedom fighters were the heroes for the post-independence generation. For the post liberalization generation in the big cities, wealth creators such as Dhirubhai Ambani, Narayan Murthy, or business leaders such as Ratan Tata are heroes. For close of three-fourth of our students the ideals were some one known to them. It could be a family member such as parents, grandparents, uncles, or someone from the school such as the classmates or teachers. A word of caution for parents and teachers. Beware! Your actions are being scrutinized by the students. They would turn out be like you in the future.

9. Which profession would you like to join?

Students at the Nav Prerna School would be real service to the society. Close of 45 percent of students want to join Indian defense forces, 30 percent want to be doctors and rest want to be teachers, engineers, or cops. Fashion designing, acting any one? Not for our students. They want real jobs.

10. Challenges facing Sikar

We asked the students about the biggest challenge (problem) in Sikar. I thought lack of opportunities for employment and infrastructure would have been the top choice. But I was wrong. The student’s choice (correctly) was deplorable sanitation standards. The deplorable sanitation standards lead to health problems and general sense of apathy among people. Indian economy is doing well and the youth have option to move to other places for work. That means that employment opportunity will always be open. Sanitation is our biggest problem. Is anybody out there? Can you hear us?

11. Challenges facing Rajasthan

Most predictably, the biggest challenge identified by students for Rajasthan is water scarcity. If we were to believe sociologists, the future wars would be fought over control of water and other such natural resources. We already have a few states in India fighting over control of water. Since we are a desert state, naturally short of water, we have to think of ways of providing drinking water for the masses. Ground water is depleting at an alarming pace in Rajasthan. We have to revive our traditional water conservation strategies such as rainwater harvesting in village ponds and take other water conservation measures.  

12. Challenges facing India

The greatest challenge identified by students for India was over-population. No doubt, the increasing population puts a great strain on our resources. Poverty, health issues, and increasing population are interlinked in a circular fashion. We need to tackle one of the issues to break the vicious circle. Starting at over-population is as good as tackling any other issue.

13. What’s your favorite season?

Rajasthan is a state with extreme weather. Winters are very cold and summers are very hot. The rains bring a welcome respite from unbearable June and July heat. No doubt rainy season is the favorite season of three-fifth of the students.

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is a tool used by individuals, families, communities, companies, societies, and nations to gauge their comparative levels with respect to others in some human endeavor. They identify their position vis-à-vis others and identify the traits, strong points and other aspects, which differentiate successful from the unsuccessful. These strong points or traits or policies are the benchmarks, which help these individuals, families, communities, companies, societies, and nations to compete at equal footing. The articles in this section are related to benchmarking.

1. A Survey on Education

 

Sikar has better primary school education standards than most other districts in Rajasthan. Sikarites are very proud of this fact. Assming them to be representative of educated Sikar population, I asked a selected group of people about job skills needed in 15 years time. The group consisted of educationists at SK College in Sikar and other colleges in Rajasthan.

 

1.1 The Problem

The question I asked was simple. Which skills (did they think) would be most useful for employment in 15 years time? The 15-year time period was not arbitrary. A person starts working between 21 and 28 years of age (if he has luxury of getting an education). Many students starting school this year would be ready for employment in 15 years time.

 

To put this question in context, I asked a simpler question. What did they think would be changes in Sikar in 15 years time? How would those changes affect society, politics, education, and economic activities of people in Sikar? Would Sikar leapfrog into league of cities with good civic amenities (our students had identified sanitation as single most important issue)? Would our city be a city with a soul? Presently Sikar is amalgmation of communities (based on caste and religion) hardly interacting with one another. Social organizations are caste based, and political parties exist to further career of a few individuals. Would Sikar have a common platform for inhabitants to socially interact in 15 years time?

 

When asked about the future, the Professors started in a predictable fashion. A few seemed very optimistic about the future while others were concerned with withering away of existing social structures. As the discussion progressed, they were more realistic in their responses. First I would describe their opinion in social, economic, and political sphere in 15 years time.

 

1.2 Social Changes

Basing on the trend of sex ratio for children below six years of age being heavily skewed toward boys, they felt that marriage market would become more favorable for girls. They felt that individualism would play havoc with Indian joint family system. Older generation is conditioned to teach younger generation from their life experiences. But the young like to explore the world for themselves. Traditionally elders always had a say in all matters. But now (and in the future) youth want to make decisions for themselves. This dichotomy could play havoc with grandparent, parent, and child relationship. However, since the ‘old generation’ in 15 years time would be better educated, they could find a greater fulfillment in leading more productive lives by writing, reading, and traveling. They do not have to see their life’s fulfillment in the success of their children.

 

1.3 Economic Changes

Economically, inhabitants of Sikar would be better off. According to the reports issued by reputable organizations such as Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, and others, India is poised to grow at 8 to 10 percent in coming 15 years. Assuming Sikar grows at 7 percent annually in the same duration, our per capita income would more than double in 15 years time. With reduction of travel time to Jaipur and Delhi, manufacturing and services should play a greater role in Sikar’s economy.

1.4 Changes in Education

Finally the most important sector: the education. Basing on the trends in the past, the educationists felt that this sector would undergo most radical changes. Post-independence there was paucity of people to man education sector, manufacturing industries, and public administration. Therefore, the barely educated people in Sikar found employment as teachers, army men, and as babus in the administration. As economy has expanded, the government employment has stagnated or waned but employment in private sector has expanded exponentially. This trend is set to continue. Private sector would employ most of the people in future.

 

In words of Mr Mahendra ji, Professor of History in SK College, “our present educational system was established to fulfill the colonial need to administer India. Unfortunately, we continued with colonial educational legacy even after independence. With changing market needs, globalization, and changing attitude, the nature of employment has changed. In this context, our traditional educational framework has become obsolete and irrelevant.” He further explains, “Students are as devoted to education as they were in the past. But the old courses in history, public administration, and such cannot provide jobs. Students pursuing these courses do not feel a need to be serious about studies. However, students pursuing job oriented courses are very sincere about education and learning.”

 

With better road connectivity and communication penetration, English language knowledge would become more important. Even today knowledge of English is pretty important. With Sikar being part of the global village, and multinationals scouting for talent from each part of the village, knowledge of English would become paramount. Dr. Chandan Singh Katewa, Professor of English at SNMT Govt Girls College in Jhunjhunu explains, “In 15 years time, the ability to think and analyze would be in demand. For job application, the most important skill would be English competence, both oral and written. It is safe to assume that communication skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) would be the need of hour”. This would have an unintended effect of having a generation with good language skills but poor in understanding of subjects such as mathematics, sciences, and social sciences.

 

1.5 What to take home from the discussion?

The professors felt that information technology, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and other such emergent fields would be major source of employment. Students aiming to get jobs in these sectors would do better than others. For employment in these sectors the professors felt that in addition to knowledge of science and mathematics, students should be able to think analytically, be able to deal with large amount of data, and be able to arrive at conclusions from the data.

 

To sum up, the parents should critically examine the education their wards are getting. Marks and percentages are irrelevant without relevant skills. Rote learning is useless and will serve no purpose whatsoever. Educators should look at the relevance of courses taught in school and colleges. The purpose should not be to inform but to develop critical skills of reasoning, thinking, and analysis. Students should broaden their mind by reading books and learning about mathematics and sciences.

 

(Drs. Ramnivasji (Political Science), Arvind Mahla (Sociology), Ramdev Singh Bhamu (Hindi), Arshad Shiraj (Urdu) and Rajendra Khyalia (Political Science) participated on the discussion about likely changes in Sikar in 15 years. Their views have been expressed in the above article without attributing to any particular individual because they expressed opinion as a group. I would like to thank them for finding time to participate in the discussion. Written by Maneesh Mahlawat. The author can be contacted on mahlawat@nav-prerna-school.com)

2. Differences between American and Indian Education System 

2.1 Background

 

There is a student organization in Texas A&M University called Academy for International and Future Leaders (AIFL). One of their programs was to conduct an event under International Students Cultural Experience (ISCE). The program’s objective was to familiarize international students with American way of life. Under this program, volunteer American families were to host International Students during the spring break (vacation for a week in spring (Jan-May) semester. I was one of the students hosted. I spent eight days with my host family during the spring break.

 The host family consisted of four members: parents and two kids (a boy and a girl). The mother was a history teacher in a middle school. I requested her to take me to her school. She was very gracious. She took me to the school and I was allowed to interact with students from a student organization and I was taken to a few ongoing classes. Anne (the girl from host family) and I were given an opportunity to speak to the students at the school. 

2.2 Denton Middle School 

Though Mrs. Miller’s (the mother in the family) school is not far from her home (less than two kilometers), she drives to the school. She teaches Texan and American history. Anne and I reached school at 12 in the afternoon. We had to meet the receptionist to be allowed to go inside the school. The receptionist was a south Indian lady. For getting visitor identification badges we had to fill details in a computer. All students and teachers had identification badges. 

We had to speak in a lunch meeting. Since it was the “Irish day”, students ate potatoes for lunch. The meeting was organized in the school library. One could see a display of books in the library connected with anything Irish. Anne and I were introduced to a few teachers. I was asked to talk about my family and my experience of being hosted. I talked a bit about Rajasthan, a bit about transportation engineering, and a bit about hosting. I didn’t know my audience so it was difficult for me to know what to talk and what to omit. Anne talked about importance of doing well in high school for getting into college. Anne told me that most of these students would go to college, as they were members of National Junior Honor’s society. 

After the meeting, I went to an honors history class taught by Mrs. Miller. The class changed my perception of the American education system. The American education system is not geared to produce average students, as focus is not on the average student. In India everyone had to read books meant for a hypothetical average student. The result was that most of my ‘above average’ friends were bored with the books and a lot of others had difficulty in understanding the books.

 When I went to the class, a girl student was reading from the slides on a monitor for benefit of the whole class. Each slide had either a map or some other interesting thing, which would help students relate the material being taught. Mrs. Miller would stop the slides at appropriate intervals to ask questions. A few kids would raise hands for answering the questions. Student correctly answering the questions would get a sticker. The questions were directly related to the material being taught. She was asking questions from her list of pre-prepared questions. It implied that she would have invested a greater time in preparing the questions than she was spending in asking them. When I saw her the other day in house, she spent a lot of time preparing material to be taught the next day.

 I asked her about the number of classes she had to teach. She taught six classes a day, each of fifty minutes duration. On this particular day, she had to go and pick-up lunch for the kids and she did not even get time to eat her lunch. Talk of a work ethic! 

At the end of the class, the students had to complete a worksheet, which dealt with material taught the same day. Answers in the worksheet were given by the students. Those correctly answering questions got a sticker. The stickers could be turned in for some privilege like not having to submit one homework (12 stickers would qualify for that). 

I could see the incentive system working efficiently. Three kids turned in their stickers for some privilege. She handed them passes that could be used for the particular privilege. She didn’t have to force students to get anything done. In fact, she cannot beat her students. American law does not allow her. But she was more effective than any Indian teacher I have seen in my life. There was minimal spoon feeding in the class.

2.3 Differences between American and Indian school system

The students get homework as they get in India. The only difference is that last 5-10 minutes in each period is used to go over the homework. While doing this, they can consult a teacher. The students are expected to work on the homework themselves. If Thomas (the boy in the family) is a typical example, I think students complete the assignments on their own. In Texas A&M University, for the non-group assignments, students work on their own without consulting others. 

The homework was very relevant. They had to think to be able to complete the homework. Though some of the assignments were like what we get in India, others were group projects on which the students had to make reports or prepare PowerPoint presentations.

 I could see that a lot of students were in football field and other games fields. I saw a class completing a two-kilometer run. When I talked to Anne and Thomas I found that more than three-fourth of the students invest a lot of time in some sports or other activity such as being part of the school band. Others complete the required credit by doing the prescribed physical exercises. I was surprised that such a large percentage of students are actively involved in an extra-curricular activity.

2.4 How my impression about Americans changed after being in their contact

 I assumed that Americans have an easy life. I hypothesized this because rich in India have an easy life. Since Americans are richer, I thought they had an easy life. I assumed that all that the kids did was to party in high school and have a blast in the college (Hollywood movies reinforced that view). 

This is patently untrue. High school studies are pretty easy for kids who drop out and work right after high school (12^th standard in India). But those who plan of going to college (most middle class students do) have to work harder than most Indian kids. The education is broad based. I would not claim that the education instills creativity, but it fosters originality. You have to do assignments on your own. Assignments are more relevant than the assignments given to students in India. Students not only take care of studies but also spend a lot of time in extra-curricular activities.

 College (bachelors) is very tough (based on workload). In India, getting admissions inside colleges is tough but you can manage with minimal work once you get an admission. If you do not care for stuff such as originality or honesty even in IITs, student life is a breeze. The assignments are easy enough if you do not have qualms about coping. But in US, you get lots and lots of assignments and students (most of them) do not copy. In addition, most of the students are involved in activities (such as inviting experts in their fields for lecture series), which consumes a lot of time. The activities revolve around their major. 

In the job market as well, Americans do not find it easy. Most of the good jobs are open to all the people, irrespective of nationality. Being American makes it easy to get a job, but they do not have any positive discrimination. Americans have a good work ethic. They got to work hard to maintain their lifestyle and obtain all the things they aspire for.

I assumed that they did not have a good social life

 

I come from a small village and I remember the fun I had with cousins, uncles, and everyone else in the extended family. I think most of the Americans do not have that privilege. But they do have a vibrant community life. It is mostly centered on their work life. People who work together spend time with each other in the evenings. They go out on picnics, eat out together, go to watch games together, play together and do a lot of other stuff. It is not like in India, but there is a community life and it is pretty productive. People work together on communal things like getting a public park built, or other stuff like that. People volunteer for community work.

3. Infrastructure and Development

 I have always wondered about perquisite for economic development. What is primary requirement for economic development? What is the thing that makes development self perpetuating? Is it education? Is it physical infrastructure? Or is it something else? As a child I was never in kept in doubt about the answer to this question. I read books written by academics who, without exception, talked about supremacy of education as a developmental tool. After having thought about this question for a long time, I am not very sure of education as being primary tool in armor for making a region economically developed. I am much wiser after having traveled around the world and having studied in best schools in India and the United States.

It is abundantly clear to me that infrastructure is primary tool in making a region economically developed. Once infrastructure is taken care of, other important ingredients like education, health, and social consciousness follow. Of course, at this point, you will doubt my assertion. Let me illustrate with a qualitative case study of Sikar. 

As a child growing in village far from city (at that time), only option for me to get quality education was to go to a hostel in a city school in either Sikar or Jhunjhunu. This obviously cost a lot of money (compared with cost of going to village school, but not compared with cost of not getting a good education). Only those who could afford to pay or were determined to send their kids to good school would send their kids to city school. The schooling in village was as bad as it is today. The government teachers were not regular and if they came to school, they would gather together to play cards and drink tea. They would do everything in school but teach. There seems to be no way that they could be forced to teach. The villagers whose kids go to school did not feel empowered enough to question teachers in order to force them to start teaching. 

3.1 Increasing Educational Opportunities

Presently my village is connected to Nawalgarh, a nearby town, by an all weather bituminous road. The road is not great but the commute time has been reduced to 20 to 40 minutes from two to three hours in the past. Since there exists a road today, most of the city schools send their buses to my village. As is the case with my village, most of the villages and hut settlements in Sikar have some private school bus service. These buses are regular in picking up and dropping kids in school because of fear of competitive poaching from other schools. I am not trying to argue that education standards in city schools are great, but they are much better than any government school can be. Since number of schools is increasing every year, there is a lot of competition and the educational standards are improving every year. The catalyst for this improvement wasn’t some government scheme. It is Pradhanmantri Gramin Sadak Yojana: The Prime Minister Rural Road Scheme.

 Another byproduct of road improvement in improving education has been that it has increased the awareness about education. Since competition is fierce, private schools are forced to fight for every child. As is expected in any market-based system, they respond by creating a demand for schools among parents of children of school going age. It is not unusual for private school administrators to keep track of school age children in even small hut settlements and persuade parents to send their kids to the school. Good schools in Sikar have students studying from all over India. Nav Prerna School has kids from Haryana, UP, Bihar, AP, in addition to students from educationally backward districts of Rajasthan such as Alwar, Barmer, Churu, and Jaislmer. It is not as if parents have come to Sikar looking for these schools. It is the other way round. Schools went to these places scouting for students. Good students have their fees subsidized by most schools. A student in merit makes all the difference. Therefore, it is not unusual for schools to resort to all means to attract talented students. A desirable consequence of this development is that bright students have their education subsidized. 

Next time you see a student from Sikar succeeding in getting admission in an IIT, a good engineering college, a good medical college, or any other professional course; be thankful to one more thing. The smooth well paved or potholed but still passable bituminous road is as much responsible for their success as any other external factor.

3.2 Rise of Small India

If you are an avid reader of magazines, you must have read about the rise of small India. Small India is defined as India sans the metros. If you find time, compare the background of students getting into professional courses such as NDA, IIT, medical colleges, IAS, or other professional courses today with background of students just a decade back. You will find that a large portion of these comes from small India. Just a decade back, the ratio was heavily skewed in favor of students from the metros. Many of these students are from Shekhawati region. Even the captain of Indian one-day cricket team is from small India. One of the most important contributing factor has been the road connectivity. 

India has shrunk. It used to take more than a day to reach Jaipur from my village at time of Indian independence. Today it takes two to three hours. That has made a big difference. This combined with TV penetration and mobile connectivity has helped shrink India. 

3.3 Health

The road connectivity has also improved the health and well being of people. As a child of five or six years I remember being carried by my mother and granny to Nawalgarh from my village on their back. They had to carry me to treat for burn injuries. After severe physical exhaustion and excuriating pain, we reached Nawalgarh after a three hour walk. In a critical case, wait of three hours meant that many patients did not make it to the hospital. Today there are buses, cars, trucks, jeeps and other transportation vehicles available to carry sick and injured to a good hospital. You can reach a health facility in Jaipur in three hours time from most of the villages in Sikar. As telephones are ubiquitous, you can ask ambulance to meet mid way in a critical case. No government, regardless of the economy, can provide the equivalent health facilities in villages as are available in the cities. Small number of villagers in one village and large number of villages makes it a daunting task. In addition to providing primary health care in villages, only sensible option to improve medical care in villages is to improve road connectivity.

3.4 Helping village economy 

Improved road connectivity improves economic well-being of villagers. For one, villagers find a direct market for village produce such as vegetables, milk and eggs in the cities. In villages connected by good roads, milkmen collect milk from villagers and sell it in the cities. If the milk supply is more than the city can consume, dairies spring up to supply milk to far-off milk deficient regions. When I was a child in village, excess milk was a useless resource, as you could not sell it. The best you could do was to produce Ghee. Other benefit is to the economically most disadvantaged group, the labor. Labor can commute to city for work where pay is higher. Another economical benefit is that the essential commodities in village shop cost almost the same as in city. Earlier the items such as sugar, salt and other things brought from the city would be sold at a premium to recover the transportation and storage costs or simply to benefit from arbitrage opportunity. With road connectivity, the quality of life has improved in the village, with added bonus of not having to stay in a polluted city environment. 

 Road connection has been the best thing to happen to my village. The fact that intrigues me is that villagers as such never felt it that way. They never raised a coherent demand for construction of road. I am yet to understand the reasons for this. John F Kennedy knew better. He had said, “American roads are good, not because America is rich, but America is rich because American roads are good”.

The above macro analysis points to the fact that road connectivity has played a greater role in shaping development in Sikar compared with government provisions of health, education, or any other governmental scheme. Only a quantitative analysis can confirm or reject the hypothesis. However, on a cursory glance, there is no doubt that infrastructure plays a fundamental role. Sensible citizens should, therefore, demand better infrastructure more than anything else. An eight-lane highway connecting Sikar to Jaipur and Sikar to Delhi coupled with good rural connectivity would be the right beginning.

****************************************************************************

This quote was found pinned to a site hut during the construction of the Konkan railway

 

I take the vision which comes from dreams

and apply the magic of science and mathematics,

adding the heritage of my profession

and my knowledge of nature's materials

to create a design.

 

I organize the efforts and skills of my fellow workers

employing the capital of the thrifty

and the products of many industries,

and together we work toward our goal

undaunted by hazards and obstacles.

 

And when we have completed our task

all can see

that the dreams and plans have materialized

for the comfort and welfare of all.

 

I am an Engineer

I serve mankind

by making dreams come true.

- Anonymous

4. Why do we need India to be cultural superpower?

4.1 Indian Influence in the Ancient World

Indian philosophy had immense influence in the ancient world. In addition to the Indian subcontinent, ancient Hindu temples and relics can be found in almost all parts of Asia. Cambodia has the largest known collection of ancient Hindu temples in the world. Buddhist influence can be felt in many parts of Asia today. Buddhism was propagated by Indian kings the common man. For example, emperor Ashoka sent his children as emissaries in other countries to spread Buddhism. Buddhist philosophy and the way of life became so influential that it became a dominant religion in large parts of Asia (that is why you see Buddhist statues even in Afghanistan). Even today, Buddhism is very influential (shaded region in the map has Buddhist influence even today).

In India itself, there used to be seminars to discuss Buddhists teachings. The teachings of Buddha would be reinterpreted to suit the existing conditions of the time. It was this reason that led to formation of different sects in Buddhism. Its followers spread Buddhism, not by use of violence, but by use of reason. It was so successful that it spread in whole of Asia including South East Asia where it is still influential. As far as I know, no heretics were ever persecuted. When you are open to other people’s viewpoint, how can you have heretics?

If one were to look at spread of Buddhism, one would realize that Buddhism spread in India when there was a central authority to help in its propagation. When Hindu dynasties became powerful, Buddhism waned in India. However it remained a dominant religion in other parts of Asia.

4.2 Indian influence today

Today there is an emotional attachment with India for people from south Asia, but since these places have done economically better, the attachment is waning. Fort those who get to actually visit India, the attachment is replaced by hopelessness. I vividly recall one such instance. A professor from National University of Singapore (NUS) had come to IIT Guwahati to influence students to join different programs at NUS. He was a Buddhist and had met many Indian professionals in his life. He had a very favorable impression of India because it was the land that had given the world Buddhist philosophy and Indian professionals he had interacted with were as good as anyone he had met in his life. As he was a practicing Buddhist he had assumed India to be a spiritually inclined yet rational in outlook and a progressive land. However his visit to Guwahati was a rude shock to his assumptions about India. 

He could not comprehend how could people with such an ancient civilization had no sense of sanitation, sense of hygiene or any civic sense. How could people with a rich heritage be full of apathy towards the society they resided in? His first stop was Kolkatta. He was shocked to a see a city which looked as if it had been built centuries ago. The buildings could not possibly pass the safety codes when they were largely taken over by overgrowing vegetation. Trees literally competed with the house walls for space of their own. And they won at most of the places. The trees had taken place of the walls but the inhabitants still lived in those houses. 

He could not simply understand it.While working in Infosys I interacted with a lot of people from Thailabd. They thought India to be steeped in poverty. They wanted to come to Bodhgaya but for the fact that the region is one of the poorest in the world. One has to read accounts of Buddhist and Hindu people in diaspora to understand their disappointment after visiting India. I realised this when I read ‘India- An Area of Darkness’ by VS Naipaul. Naipaul grew up in Trinidad, believing India to be the mythological place, which the readings of scriptures and stories from his elders had explained it to be. He was deeply disappointed to find India desperately poor, tradition bound and looking into past for inspiration.

One simple question could be asked to the Indians of the day, which past was Buddha looking into? Which past was Adi Shankara looking into? Did they not give philosophy at a particular time, which did not exist in the past? Why did the Indians of that day not reject those ideas because they did not exist earlier? The fact is that India was looking into past was because there was nothing to look forward to in the present or in the future. Since India is doing well economically today, people have started looking at the future with hope and aspirations.

4.3 What is at stake?

Indian philosophy and way of life is inclusive. It does not propogate one way of life, one God, one Truth, or one right approach. It accepts different cultures, different religions, and different ways of life. It was cosmopolitan before being cosmopolitan became a good thing. It accepts multiplicity of truth: 'My God is no better or worse than your God'. If you convert to Buddhism, Jainism, or Hinduism, you do not have to deny your history and do not have to purge non-Buddhist, non-Jain, or non-hindu influence from your shared past. You do not have to propagate your philosophy or convert other people to become a good Jain, a good Buddhist, or a good Hindu. There are no set of rules for you to interact with people from other religions. There is a simple guideline.

 Treat them as you would treat people from your own religion. In a world divided among competiting ethnic, religious, and tribal allegiances, Indian viewpoint can have a balming effect.India has to do well, not only for self-esteem of Indians but also for the self-esteem of rest of the people in the world who are connected to India emotionally. India has to be economic powerhouse for the Buddhist’s, Hindu’s, Jain’s, Sikh’s and other people following Indian faith’s self esteem. If Buddhist people were to do as well, there would be no doubt spread of Buddhism as well. Why is this important? It is important because this would not lead to rootless ness in people. They will feel empowered if they were to remain confident of their own cultural traditions and way of life.

Let us not dwell into some mythical past. Let us work in the present with hope and determination. This is the only way for a better future. We Indians need to do well, not only for us, but also for other people who want to see us doing better.

5. Differences in American and Indian Attitude towards Strangers

A friend from Sikar asked me about differences between Americans and Indians. I pondered on this question for quite some time. I recalled instances of being with American friends and American strangers. I recalled the way Americans talked to me and talked to other strangers. I juxtaposed those interactions I have had with my Indian friends and Indian strangers. It was then that I realized the most obvious difference between American and Indian attitude towards strangers.

 

5.1 American’s Attitude

Americans did not try to judge me. They did not try to categorize me into a group and reduce my behavior as a member of that group. They accepted whatever I told them at its face value. They did not try to check the veracity of my claims. I remember the first time I was standing outside a volleyball court in the United States and was eager to play. I was new to the country and did not know how to ask to join them. But I did not have to ask. They asked me to join them after I was there for a minute or so. If they were going out for lunch, they asked me to join them. If I declined the invitation the first time, they asked me the next time they were going out. They did not get offended when I declined the invitation. In other words, Americans I knew (and I have a pretty big friend circle) accepted me the way I was.

 5.2 Indian’s Attitude

I contrasted this with the way I was treated by other Indians. Most Indians thought of my religion, my caste, my region first. They thought of something that made me different from them. I was judged being good or bad in something based on an earlier impression of someone they had met from my caste, my region, or my religion. I was never, in the first glance, judged as an individual on my own merit. If I gave an opinion on something, no one really cared until they knew I was an IITian or that I was an engineer in the United States. 

The opinion didn’t matter as much as who expressed the opinion. I recall numerous instances of trying to join some Indians playing a game. I usually got ignored when I requested to join them. When asking to play volleyball the so called star player would tell me something about volleyball before I would be given a chance. I would be made aware of the team hierarchy before allowed to join the team. When in the court they would keep playing between themselves, as if I didn’t exist. Next time when you see the same players playing, I would not feel like joining them in the game.

I am not trying to convey that all Americans have better attitude towards strangers than all Indians. I have met white supremacists in the bars. Luckily they are lesser in number. Majority of Americans I have met do not judge people based on looks or ethnic background. Most of them accept people who are not like them. Unfortunately, in a country, which is melting pot of different cultures, different ethnicities, different tribes, different religions, and different languages; we haven’t learnt to live without prejudice.

 I wonder when would be the time for Rabindranath Tagore’s vision of India to be realized. The country seems to be sinking deeper into caste, religion, regional, and language differences quagmire. I fervently wish, as Ravindranath Tagore did, that our country would be the place:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. 

Let us strive to be Indians first and anything else later. Jai Hind. (Written by Maneesh Mahlawat. The author can be contacted on mahlawat@nav-prerna-school.com)