Self-Image...

We are a nation of extremes in all cases. There could be a brand new Porsche and a bullock cart sharing the same lane in a major city. And while a small percentage of our population flies first class, the majority cannot afford to ride in a bus. But we seem to WANT to take the better side of the extreme as representative of India. Fool ourself into thinking that the average is closer to the best than the worst. And that extends to how we interpret events in the world as well.
Take the recent UN bungle about election of a new Secretary-General. We support a New York born, London-based author called Shashi Tharoor, whose parents were in India at some point in their distant personal histories. But imagine him to be, nonetheless, an Indian. As if him getting elected would result in the world recognising that we are after all a superpower. If one simply clears the emotional baggage accompanying a person of Indian origin, i think we would all realise that Shashi Tharoor is as Indian as say Kofi Annan was Ghanian. (which i'm sure many didn't know). And to make matters worse, the fact that Tharoor may not get elected is seen as some kind of national insult in the media. The other day, i see a question on a news channel, 'Does India get taken seriously at the UN?' or something like that. And one of the SMS responses was 'Can you imagine the UN without India?' as if it was but natural to throw one's head back, laugh and say 'NO!!'
Unfortunately, we need to realise that we are as important (or should i say un-important) to the UN or the world as maybe Ghana. The only time the UN talks about us is when one of our peacekeepers dies in Somalia. And when we do get discussed, it somehow becomes an indication that 'we have arrived on the world stage'.
This post is turning into one where it seems i'm indicating the UN to be some important world body. When in fact, it is not. How long can we as a country fool ourselves in institutions that have lost its relevance? Whether its the UN or the Non-Aligned Movement (that massive fraud of neutrality which its founders gave up within a few months of establishing it), our pride on the world stage seems inexplicably linked to how we are seen on this irrelevant platforms. And when something miniscule in proportion does occur, our chests swell up.
The U.S. is the bully of the world. And we made the unfortunate mistake of latching our wagon on another bully, who long ago shifted schools. Now we seem to be like the teacher's pet, feeling very happy when the teacher gives us a gold star. But its recess time and the bully controls the class. And however many gold stars we get, the bully and his cronies will have the last say. So we sit smugly and count our gold stars while the bully and his cronies steal our lunch money.
And marvel saying 'Oh, we've finally arrived!'