We continue to remain in COVID pandemic. Sharing a meaningful WhatsApp message….

Had a long conversation with a friend from US over Facebook chat. By the end of the chat, I realized how fortunate we Indians are, for having been born in this sacred land.

Following is a summary of what he basically conveyed during the conversation.

“Dear GP, I have been following your posts for quite some time. Initially, whenever you praised Indian civilization, I used to laugh it off, because I always compared my country (US), with India, only on factors like GDP, per capita, roads, sky scrapers, infrastructures etc. and always consoled myself that US is any day much better than India.

But the last few days, have been very painful and sort of revelation to me and most of my friends here. As you might already be aware, most of USA is also under lockdown, and our nation has come to a standstill. Day by day, it feels like falling into bottom less pit, because except for factors like economy, infrastructure, etc., we really have nothing else. So, when economy halts, it feels like our nation itself has disappeared.

That’s when I was reminded of your older posts where you always used to praise softer aspects like culture, diversity, traditions, roots etc. When I started introspecting over these, I realized that we Americans hardly have any roots. We always boast about Uncle Sam, Yankee Doodle etc. as parts of American identity. But the truth is that we are basically a bunch of European explorers who landed at the American shores 300 years ago, and we eradicated all the native Americans here. That’s all the history we have. There is no other identity. All these factors like great American dream, the roads, the skyscrapers, dollars, big brands etc. which we always try to show-off, are mere superficial entities. None of them can even come close to the cultural aspects that you Indians are usually proud of.

For example, we were proud of our skyscrapers like empire state building. Whereas you were proud of Indian epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata. Today, when all of us are lockdown at homes, we don’t know what has happened to empire state building and we don’t even care now. But you are reviving and cherishing your Indian epics despite locked at home. That’s the difference. We built our nation through objects. You built your nation through values.

When you boast about Indian sages inventing zero, thousands of years ago, Ayurveda 5000 years ago etc. we feel somewhat disconnected because we don’t have such strong and extended roots. As I was saying, our entire history is not even 300 years old. So, during times like these, while you Indians can feel more confident because you live in a “Tried and Tested” model which has already lasted for thousands of years, we Americans feels anxious because we know that our whole foundation has been shallow, based on money, based on greed, based personal status symbol and now that the whole flimsy system has collapsed, we don’t know how we will fare in future.

Now, please take this as a brotherly advice. Don’t fall for the western track. Life is not always about showing-off new stuff. The idea of nation is not always about GDP, infrastructure etc. We are realizing it the hard way now. A nation is supposed to be much more than those. It should be about all the softer aspects and value system as well. And as far as I can see, you Indians have done a great job of retaining your culture and values over the centuries. Cherish every bit of it. I know you are already proud of it, but in future also continue to be proud of it, and spread positivity further. All the best.”

Much before COVID 19, right from inception, we at Rameswaram are pursuing the model of development which is deeply rooted in ethics and Indian culture out of our conviction.