Shining a turd - india

India is making the news as the next Phoenix rising out of the ashes of poverty. So naturally, everyone is going goo goo ga ga over the accomplishment.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  A folksy American adage, “shining a turd,” aptly describes Indian mentality and “success.”  

Indian pioneers have sought fortunes in foreign lands since the early twentieth century.  It was the side effect of British colonialism and the world wars.  The cannon fodder saw a much better way of life. The depleted Europeans needed labor to rebuild their countries, and the soldiers became laborers.

Though better opportunities, life was a struggle. Nonetheless, it looked impressive to the poor relatives back home. However, moving across cultural lines and climbing the social ladder was slow and tedious.   

Fast forward to the technological revolution of the 1990s and the ensuing monetary growth.  Again, there was a shortage of cheap labor.  English medium education - colonialism's legacy- bore its fruits, and expertise at hacking shortcuts brought Indian immigrants in the millions.  The supply and demand market paid far better than imagined.  Indians would quickly become the wealthiest ethnicity in the West.  Ill-gotten or rapid accumulation of riches and capitalistic comforts went to their heads.  Through rose-tinted glasses, many saw themselves as superpower heroes.

This marriage of convenience wasn’t without consequences.  Indians earned the reputation of the most despised community.  Scammers, code coolies, lazy liars, and smelly incels are some of the nicer stereotypes used to describe them.   Yet, they were in ignorant bliss.  Instead of introspection, the master fraudsters blamed racism. 

They bring their old habits and behavior.  Locals were disgusted when they started bribing, benefiting from nepotism, and becoming leeches on the welfare programs reserved for the poor. Then, shamelessly, they would laugh it off as jealousy.   Dignity and self-respect are alien concepts to these brown nosers.  Colleagues hated how they groveled, cheated, begged, and stepped on others to climb the ladder.

Like crows, they preyed on the elderly and illiterate.  The local mafia was shocked at the lack of any scruples by the scammers.  In the ghettos, they were thrashed by residents for trying to pee on the walls.  Ill manners, lack of civility, and inconsiderate anti-social behavior made them even more unappealing.  The corner shop owners swindle and sell spurious merchandise - and then laugh about it.  The illiterate Punjabis became mules for the drug cartels.  The Gujratis and Baniyas cooked accounting books.  Amid any scam or fraud, one would find an Indian.  It worked for a while, and the thuggery was off-putting to natives -who retaliated with ridicule, bullying, and vandalism.  The weaklings cried uncle and hid behind bribed officials.

Eventually, the hospitality wears off; the fed-up victims resort to thrashing. Idi Amin of Uganda, who evicted them en masse, is a famous example.  They were met with the same hostility in Africa, South East Asia, Fiji, and worldwide.  Usually, cowards don’t try this, where brutal repercussions and violent punishment are the consequence.  

The so-called success is only in monetary hoarding and never in glorious fields like innovation, exploration, and sports.  In science and medicine, they are generic plagiarists.  The inferior products manufactured with stolen technology are usually successful in the third world.

India also reaped the benefits from the diaspora.  It became a haven for scammers and cheap subcontractors for mega-corporations, replacing mainly China.  The same fate awaits them - a polluted shell in the end.  Gora is a superior player in the geopolitical games.  It is the East India Company all over again.

The newfound wealth didn’t change the mentality or psyche of the Indians.  A Punjabi saying  “razor in a monkey’s hand” is now a “gun in a monkey’s hand” - doesn’t change the fact that a “gangster wanna-be” is still a monkey.  Peel away the glitter layer in any corner of India; one will find the same thuggery, pettiness, corruption, crime, and stagnation, among other social disorders. First, they rode a rickshaw and met at a dhaba; now, they travel in a luxury car and meet in fancy clubs to hatch the next scam. 

All the glitter is fool's gold.  Just because someone has money to afford meat from a butcher shop doesn’t make them a hunter. Likewise, a mule train is not an expeditionary force; thus, subordination is not leadership.

The hope for the second generation is nil as well.  They have become educated shills for the elites and politicians.  Just like their ancestors who served the Mughals, Lodhis, and Afghans, the glorified bookkeepers and clerks strut as if they were the owners.  The vast wealth didn’t save them during the partition of India.  Indians have been opulent since recorded history and also have been sodomized repeatedly by the invaders who snatched away their riches.

The Western power brokers and dictator makers are masters of psychology.  It doesn’t bother them to appoint token Indian managers.  It relieves them from the scrutiny of dubious business practices eagerly done by Indians for a price.  They have an ethnic face to negate any unnecessary criticism.  And it strokes the fragile ego of Indians.  Somehow, they have to woo the most numerous consumers in the world, sitting on vast piles of cash.