d. We chose to

The Mint Quick Edit today (24th Feb) is titled The Slumdog in all of us. Quite topical I must say.

There are striking parallels between the story of Jamal— the slumdog who became a millionaire—and resurgent India. Both have faced ample adversity and yet strived to break out of the dark circle of poverty.

Well, with a statement like that, who can disagree? The economic liberalisation is bearing fruit and we are striving to break out of poverty. The current economic slowdown in India (read slowdown and not recession) is a minor blip in our story. We are here to stay. Yipee! Applause!

Now that we have established the feel good factor, Mint goes further ahead and makes a candy sweet statement to pander our egos.

Be it our technology companies or the neighbourhood chaiwallas, Indians can be as innovative and street-smart as Jamal.

Now, we know this too, don't we? The example of technology companies is something that no one would debate. (I would like to, but that is for later.)

And here comes the finale.

Ask yourself the question posed at the beginning of the film, though in the national context. The boy (country) wins because: (a) He cheated; (b) He is lucky; (c) He is a genius; (d) It is written.

The answer you pick will reveal a lot about how you view India.

Why not the option of (e) We chose to (f) Because We can (g) We did not mean to. Mint could have guided us on how we should view India by giving us the choice of (e) We chose to. But it lost a golden opportunity and wastefully pandered our already bloated egos.

I have mentioned my discomfort with 'the rightful place for us' in earlier post in 2007

Anyways, the point where I disagree is that we have a rightful place in this world which should be given to us. We do not have any rightful place. The only righful place is the place where we want to be and for that we need to work hard. Really hard.It will not be given to us on a platter.

The part which I fear is the fact that this new found self confidence should not turn in over confidence and arrogance. We have not even achieved the tip of the so called iceberg of development. There is a long long way to go and we need to keep going on. While pride in our achievements is required, smugness is an unwanted guest. It is in our interest to stay humble of our achievements and realistic about the long road ahead.

Let is be clear. It is not written anywhere. It is nice to be romantic, to talk about destiny but it would be only shooting ourselves in our foot. Our well-wishers and enemies are engaging in realpolitik for advancement of their national interest. If we do not get real, I am sure there will be no dearth of people to write-off the India story. To borrow a term from cricket - India flattered only to deceive.

To me Destiny is Plan B. We need a vision to create our own future and concrete ideas and plans to get there. While we work to advance our national interest and influence, the touchstone to our success should always be enduring human values of equality, freedom and integrity.

When someone looks back at Indian achievements and progress in 2025, I hope they arrive at the conclusion that it was (e) We chose to as the right answer. Jai Ho!