India and her Neighbours

Neighbours are your second family, they say, but India has always, somehow, found or fostered estranged ones. And it is befuddling, because some of the neighbours owe their existence or sustenance solely to India’s help. Unfortunately South Asia is not one of the prosperous regions in the world; it is rather destitute, densely populated and marred with maliciously corrupt polity and bureaucracy. Add to this the brewing religious fundamentalism. It makes the region a veritable powder keg. Thankfully the situation has not sparked to create any notable conflagration.

But India can’t count on it for long. It has already suffered enough due to its cold relationship with the neighbours. And believe me, larger part of the blame lies on India’s shoulders only owing to its faulty and egotistical foreign policy. SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) was an attempt, started in 1985 with first conclave held at Dhaka, to develop trust and cooperation among the 7 member countries. But it is a dying organization, hardly creating any tangible output. The onus thus lies on the individual countries only. So, I find it highly encouraging that India, of late, has started to mend relationship with the neighbours.

Bangladesh was rightfully created out of Pakistan on 17th Dec, 1971, and India played an instrumental role in achieving that. The things turned sour soon though, and Bangladesh got disturbed with the policies of Indian government related to border sharing, NE rivers water distribution, illegal immigration etc. But the latest events of conferring Indira Gandhi Peace Prize on Bangladesh Premier, Ms Sheikh Hasina Wazed, and her subsequent fruitful visit to India, promised much. Thus, the recent agreement of India helping Bangladesh to develop 1300 MW of power plant in Southern Bangladesh is a very welcome step towards strengthening of bonds.

Similarly, India’s help of $300 million plus several tones of rice, pulses and yellow pea to Nepal will bolster her image, which has got badly tarnished with the allegedly India-induced Maoist imbroglio, in the country. India has also signed some hydel power deals with Bhutan during the king’s visit last year. Also, Maldives Vice-President was here recently, seeking help to counter the radicalization of youth. The recently elected government in Sri Lanka is looking forward to a renewed cooperation with India. Mahinda Rajpakse, even though not very popular with Tamils, is not a bad person to extend ties with.It is imperative that India doesn’t dither and vacillate on its policies towards Tamils now.

Thus it has been happy going recently with the immediate neighbours, but what about our The Neighbour, Pakistan? Really I can’t comment, because Pakistan is such a profoundly arcane country, and increasingly makes me wonder and fear about its immediate future. I do recognize the mistakes of India, but for Pakistan, those mistakes only had been and are the raison d'être of its policies. There is so much scope for Pakistan to improve itself, but it has bungled on democracy, religion, Talibanisation, sports etc, and mark my words, there is no else to blame but itself. India seriously can’t be expected to move ahead until Pakistan root out the elements of terrorism, the most baneful issue for India. The proffered reasoning of Pakistan cannot guaranteeing India a terror-free breeding ground because it can’t shield herself from terror is not smidgeon of argument to hold water. From an Indian perspective, there needs to be an overhaul of its policies towards India; if not done, Pakistan only has a lot to lose. And this is coming from a man who loves Pakistan every bit, for her umbilical relationship with India.

Happy Reunion with India

Time to breathe! It has been such a hectic time of late. Moving back to India not only involves a lot of logistics stuff, but also a mental shift in viewing the things. I could understand why people said, “Who had stayed outside India for some time and heard a lot of development tom-tom about her, often are left disappointed and rueful on confronting the reality. Their bloated sense of hassle-free world as present abroad, so craved by them, comes crashing down.”

I am not that alienated to have felt such extremes. But having lived in Delhi about 10 years back, there was nostalgia pouring all the time I looked at the roads and buildings from the windows of my taxi. Traffic was the same, so unnerving and riling. The northern Delhi seemed to have been left untouched by the Commonwealth Games renovation. Things had changed, but only in time. What else could I say?

The thought lingered with me for the first 2-3 days, but surprisingly, the environ started seeping into me. Soon I was back to childhood days of buying groceries from kirana store haggling over the prices, dodging the darting bikes and autos to find my way, stuffing myself through the crowd to take a seat in metro or bus keeping a conscious attention on my purse etc I had been though this before on my vacations, but the thought of these all going to be my daily chores had a different casing on mind. And how easily I passed. You can’t take the genes out of a body, they say.

And to tell you the truth, it feels fantastic now. Eating samosas on the roadways; seeing children play on the open streets; hearing people’s gossips on the bylanes; propitiating before God on my way- these all are truly Indian flavoured. I don’t know how long the euphoria will last, but it seems, the magic of the same contrast of despair and hope, so discerned by me always, will probably keep me rooted to my motherland for ever.