We're all about to discover...
that elephants can dance.
I wish I had thought of that myself - but can't take the credit. This was the punch line of an article on the apparent "progress" of India I was reading just now. "The 'un-China' could be world's next economic superpower.. according to the CNN. Nah, I am not being a precocious critic for a change - the article was kinda interesting. India maybe a winner as far as democratic ideals go, but "Democracy aside, there is a second way in which India is the un-China -- and it's not to India's credit."..."Backbreaking, empty-stomach poverty, which China has been tackling successfully for decades, is still all too common in India. Education for women -- the key driver of China's rise to become the workshop of the world -- lags terribly in India. " And so on.
Reminded me of an unexpected revolt by a usually shy-silent bhalo chhele (good boy) in my D-school days. D-school is determinedly pro- liberalization (a lovely contrast to JNU) and most of its professors exhibit institutional loyalty by being "liberalization wow wow". In one such class we were sitting and lambasting Chinese policies and the futility of socialism (actually we weren't, the prof was - DSE does not encourage much discussion). When suddenly this silent type got outraged ("aikla boshe jhimjhimiye hothhat gailen rege"... an untranslatable masterpiece saying in Bong), sprang up and started quoting stats on how the Chinese are doing so much better on the HDI front and how socialism made that possible. It was brilliant.
If I had dared, I would have given him a standing ovation.
Ofcourse, the pissy old prof, just shut him up. But the shy-boy became my hero of the cohort. (ofcourse, there was not much competition in a class-full of MBA rejects and MNC aspirants)
I wish I had thought of that myself - but can't take the credit. This was the punch line of an article on the apparent "progress" of India I was reading just now. "The 'un-China' could be world's next economic superpower.. according to the CNN. Nah, I am not being a precocious critic for a change - the article was kinda interesting. India maybe a winner as far as democratic ideals go, but "Democracy aside, there is a second way in which India is the un-China -- and it's not to India's credit."..."Backbreaking, empty-stomach poverty, which China has been tackling successfully for decades, is still all too common in India. Education for women -- the key driver of China's rise to become the workshop of the world -- lags terribly in India. " And so on.
Reminded me of an unexpected revolt by a usually shy-silent bhalo chhele (good boy) in my D-school days. D-school is determinedly pro- liberalization (a lovely contrast to JNU) and most of its professors exhibit institutional loyalty by being "liberalization wow wow". In one such class we were sitting and lambasting Chinese policies and the futility of socialism (actually we weren't, the prof was - DSE does not encourage much discussion). When suddenly this silent type got outraged ("aikla boshe jhimjhimiye hothhat gailen rege"... an untranslatable masterpiece saying in Bong), sprang up and started quoting stats on how the Chinese are doing so much better on the HDI front and how socialism made that possible. It was brilliant.
If I had dared, I would have given him a standing ovation.
Ofcourse, the pissy old prof, just shut him up. But the shy-boy became my hero of the cohort. (ofcourse, there was not much competition in a class-full of MBA rejects and MNC aspirants)
posted by Amrita Pande at 2:17 PM
4 Comments:
well said, totally get it. there was another piece on ABC news with an interview of thomas friedman doing the india-china thing, saying 'look at india-200 million muslims- all of them peaceful.'Like- 'what would happen if they got out of the country and unleashed their terror???' gawd.
and by the way, the bhalo chhele sounds very cute :)
peaceful muslims?? an oxymoron for many huh!
DO I know you? Silbil is very curious about your identity :)
But couldn't find your blog so can't guess ...
hmm... in good time. am getting screwed preparing for fieldwork. the blogging revolution's hit me at a bad time in my career(HA!) though the time i spend reading other people's blogs is certainly no indication of that :).
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