Incredible India

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happen to read an article by a student in "The Hindu" .


The Hindu : Life & Style / Society : Surviving India

I have heard a lot about Indians living abroad and the culture shock they get upon visiting India after a couple of years. All of a sudden, they feel that anything and everything in India is topsy turvy. I had the opportunity to see and feel the change in perspective about India during the recent visit of my aunt and her family from U.S.

Curious kids

My two cousins, aged six and ten, started bombarding me with questions from day one. They asked me why there are so many people, cars, buses, scooters, trucks and cattle on the road. My reply was that India was a big country with a big population. It satisfied their curiosity to some extent.

Hygiene-wise, they were paranoid about everything. It started off one morning when I saw them holding a Bisleri water bottle in their hands, presuming that it was meant for drinking. I was shocked when I heard them say that they were going to brush their teeth with mineral water. They thought that using Metro water will land them in the hospital.

They used hand sanitisers at regular intervals and they had used up a couple of tubes during their ten day-stay. And then there were the mosquitoes; for the majority of us, mosquitoes are considered extended family members. Mosquitoes started swarming around post sunset and started biting my younger cousin. This was quite a bother for her.

She even wrote a letter to the mosquito which was indeed hilarious. The letter read:

Dear Mosquito,

I do not taste good. So I don't think that you should eat me.

Thank you.

Indigenous pride
After a short stay the family returned to the U.S., following extensive safety protocols during their stay In India.

All said and done, India is and will remain chaotic and crowded. But then for us, this country will remain enjoyable and pulsating with life. Don't we see people coming back to our motherland from overseas of late? There must be some mystical force bringing back many Indians in spite of the high decibels, garbage and the sea of humanity on the road. There must be a good reason to coin the phrase Incredible India!

DEEPTHI MOHAN, I Year, SRM University

//lr to the mosquito was really hilarious//

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

Incredible India is fast becoming the Impossible India!
When my sons visited us, they were afraid to walk on the road.
They forgot what Indian traffic was like, after they had spent
20 and 17 years in USA and got used to the organized traffic there.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

If anyone wishes to see an archeological excavation site

just visit the city Coimbatore now.

It is even is better than the original excavation sites!

How do people travel then??? G O K!!! :angel:

 

[Iyyarooraan]

Most of the dreaded diseases have come from the US. Our cost of living is going up because of the US. Though we have no statistics of India, more than 25% of deaths in the US are caused by hospital-acquired infections. Sometime before I was surprised to read that because of over hygiene consciousness, children become less immune to infections - immunity is not built up to resist infections. One of the Birlas died in the US of malaria. I do not know it was Indian mosquito or African or worse American mosquito. We have to be neat and clean and health consciousness should not border insanity.

 

[prasad1]

Most of the dreaded diseases have come from the US. Our cost of living is going up because of the US. Though we have no statistics of India, more than 25% of deaths in the US are caused by hospital-acquired infections. Sometime before I was surprised to read that because of over hygiene consciousness, children become less immune to infections - immunity is not built up to resist infections. One of the Birlas died in the US of malaria. I do not know it was Indian mosquito or African or worse American mosquito. We have to be neat and clean and health consciousness should not border insanity.

Mr. Iyya,
Do you have any proof of such outlandish statement.
I am assuming when you say US you mean USA, not "us". I agree that the environment in US is so cleanliness oriented that they do not have resistance built to ordinary infection. But what you say is preposterous.
Here is USA, the majority of doctors have not seen any case of Malaria. So they may not suspect it, if a patient walks in with this kind of symptom, diagnosis is difficult. Once CDC gets involved, they treat it aggressively. For your record this is the region where malaria infects people.

 

[mahakavi]

To a certain extent it is true extreme cleanliness is detrimental to general health. Hospital acquired infection (called nosocomial infection) is prevalent in the US but not to the extent of causing deaths. It is also true that street urchins wallowing in dirt in India do not get sick or die because their bodies acquired immunity against the germs in the environment there. The children (and even adults) from the US will definitely get sick while visiting India. My own young daughter got a violent eruption of measles when we visited India years ago (this despite various immunization shots taken before the trip). The doctors who treated her were clueless. Fortunately it was not fatal.

India is incredible alright. But it was in the past. We lost all the luster. The products of the past still have an attraction but the present environment is not conducive to maintain them properly. Individual cleanliness is the forerunner for general hygiene. That is lacking now.

 

[prasad1]

In spite of the corruption, filth, chaos and accepting the status quo, India was, is and forever will be incredible. Every year we return to India in spite of the weather, infrastructure, and total disdain for time, we fall in love again. We try to see a place we have not been before, and enjoy every minute of it. I guess it is in the blood, my daughter born in USA, too has followed in our step.
Unashamedly I am in love with India. You can take me out of India, but you can not take India out of me.
Jai Hind

 

[mahakavi]

I concur with the last line. But I prefer to relive the past (nostalgia) and do an armchair visit through the internet. My gripe is that India rushed through the so-called progress in economic advancement (of course only for a limited segment) without forethought about the infrastructure needed along with the standard of living. Individual greed contributed quite a lot to that. The music, the culture, the temples, the rivers, and many other glorious items must have been a splendor a couple of hundred years ago (sigh!). The river KAveri is just full of sand and bushes for half the year in ThamizhnADu. 100 years ago undivided India had 300 million people. Now India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh put together total 1.5 billion. That is really choking for a country which has been in existence time immemorial.

 

[prasad1]

I concur with the last line. But I prefer to relive the past (nostalgia) and do an armchair visit through the internet. My gripe is that India rushed through the so-called progress in economic advancement (of course only for a limited segment) without forethought about the infrastructure needed along with the standard of living. Individual greed contributed quite a lot to that. The music, the culture, the temples, the rivers, and many other glorious items must have been a splendor a couple of hundred years ago (sigh!). The river KAveri is just full of sand and bushes for half the year in ThamizhnADu. 100 years ago undivided India had 300 million people. Now India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh put together total 1.5 billion. That is really choking for a country which has been in existence time immemorial.

We all have our point of view, and I respect yours.
But 100 years ago we were slaves, even 500 years ago Hindustan was ruled by foreigners.
Now India is an independent country flourishing (i agree with you). It is great to see the swagger (almost rudeness) in their outlook. But still it is the country were people are friendly, and generally happy (except Tamil Nadu).

 

[mahakavi]

In the current day India people may be happy overall, even in ThamizhnADu, except a small minority who are tired of the DMK/ADMK outsmarting each other in cheating the public. The vast majority of the poor (urban as well as rural) in ThamizhnADu get some of their necessities---even comforts like gas stoves, color tvs-- fulfilled easily via aid/subsidy from the government. The economic prosperity has generally eluded a vast majority of lower middle class folks who neither participate in the progress nor are eligible for the freebies from the government---especially the poor brahmins. Only those who educate themselves and work in private sector get ahead. Subsidies are a shortcut for progress. The government runs deficits to fund subsidies. The mark of economic progress is the independence of people--finding jobs and taking care of themselves. We still have ways to go in that path.

When I said 100 years ago it was better, I meant the land was generally more plentiful in crops, the rivers were running full, the roads were clean (although many were not paved with asphalt), and so long as the people went about their personal business the government did not bother them. Of course the freedom fighters had a different story. If you ask any senior citizen about the current situation they will cry over your shoulders.

 

[prasad1]

We cry for ourselves, not for the country. We are sorry that people are doing much better than our good times. No younger person will want to go back to our younger days.
Aam Admi has far more freedom, far mire information, far more material possession today than the middle class person had 50 years ago.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

But the differences are that
The middle class man 50 years ago
lived a life of contentment and satisfaction.
He had morals.
He had values.
He valued the values.
Now people value only one thing Money!
Vitamin M is welcome by hook or crook / fraud or theft.

We cry for ourselves, not for the country. We are sorry that people are doing much better than our good times. No younger person will want to go back to our younger days.
Aam Admi has far more freedom, far mire information, far more material possession today than the middle class person had 50 years ago.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

You are perfectly correct. Body builds up immunity according to our life style.
People in the slums live near the ditches which flow like rivers near their huts.

We can't stand the stench even for a few seconds. But they live there quite unharmed. Even the small babies playing the filth do not fall sick.

The more we try to protect the body by living in near sterile atmosphere the less immunity we develop.

I have heard that in the hospitals in USA even the phones used by the patients are thrown away when new patients moves in to the hospital room.
Is it true Mr. Prasad?

Most of the dreaded diseases have come from the US. Our cost of living is going up because of the US. Though we have no statistics of India, more than 25% of deaths in the US are caused by hospital-acquired infections. Sometime before I was surprised to read that because of over hygiene consciousness, children become less immune to infections - immunity is not built up to resist infections. One of the Birlas died in the US of malaria. I do not know it was Indian mosquito or African or worse American mosquito. We have to be neat and clean and health consciousness should not border insanity.

 

[mahakavi]

>>I have heard that in the hospitals in USA even the [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]phones[/FONT][/FONT] used by the patients are thrown away when new patients moves in to the hospital room.
Is it true Mr. Prasad?<<

I am afraid it is not true. They are taken away and sanitized and used again. Naturally after every patient moves out of the room the entire area is sanitized and some items are thrown away. But the sheets are all washed at very high temperature to make them sterile again before reuse. The only problem when one is overdoing the disinfection is that the bacteria can get resistant eventually and will present problems later as it happens with MRSA (methicillin resistant staph aureus). Is there some intermediate state of disinfection? Nobody knows. We can't completely disinfect and then add a few bacteria. It is similar to land erosion by intensive agriculture. To supplement the depleted earth we add chemical fertilizer which can make the crops dependent on them forever. It is a vicious cycle.

 

[Iyyarooraan]

Is cleanliness to beat God's domain? Or how much cleanliness is sufficient? I think no body can draw a line. One may say according to US standard. Other may say some European couuntry. Still some say Chinese or Japanese. Everybody is living with disease causing germs. When they have no resistance power or immunity problem or malnutrition, the problem surfaces or manifests. I have a few examples - being in the gulf a relative of mine does not even sneeze whereas he had chronic cold problem here. Another one had allergy problem here and enjoys good health in the UK. I think some people are not lucky to be here health-wise. Whatever pandits may claim, life's problems are a mystery. The problems can haunt you at their will. You are as safe as Parikshit Maharaja!

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

dear Mr. mahakavi!
So it is a two pronged attack-though unintended!!!
I was not aware of the other side of the issue!
We end up making the bacterias into super bacterias
and the humans into infra-immune human beings.
What a weird combination??? :doh:
The body must be allowed to fight the infection
and build up it own immunity stronger!

>>I have heard that in the hospitals in USA even the [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]phones[/FONT][/FONT] used by the patients are thrown away when new patients moves in to the hospital room.
Is it true Mr. Prasad?<<

I am afraid it is not true. They are taken away and sanitized and used again. Naturally after every patient moves out of the room the entire area is sanitized and some items are thrown away. But the sheets are all washed at very high temperature to make them sterile again before reuse. The only problem when one is overdoing the disinfection is that the bacteria can get resistant eventually and will present problems later as it happens with MRSA (methicillin resistant staph aureus). Is there some intermediate state of disinfection? Nobody knows. We can't completely disinfect and then add a few bacteria. It is similar to land erosion by intensive agriculture. To supplement the depleted earth we add chemical fertilizer which can make the crops dependent on them forever. It is a vicious cycle.

 

[mahakavi]

>>The body must be allowed to fight the infection
and build up it own immunity stronger!<<

True. That was the original intent of God or more appropriately the job of evolution. Evolution did not intend to specifically create immunity but in the process of trial and error, the ones which randomly developed immunity survived and prospered along. In the absence of immunity the species perished. It was not the intent of the bacterium to attack human beings either. They are just cohabiting along with all other species. In their activities some of the bacteria do good things while others produce products which harm us (just like good and evil people). Creation does not discriminate between the two. Survival of the fittest is the norm. Now we have lots of genes in our bodies which go to work to make antibodies when microorganisms attack us. That is how we survive. For this to function effectively the attack must not be an epidemic but sporadic which gives enough time for us to develop immunity naturally. In the case of an onslaught of an epidemic it is so overwhelming that many of us will perish (as happened in the past centuries). That is why vaccination was developed externally which has saved millions of lives.

So, developing natural immunity is fine but when it is not possible (in immune-compromised people) or in times of huge outbreak (small pox, swine flu, avian flu etc.,) external administration of vaccines is a must. Some of the scourges of humanity have been wiped out in this manner and we have to thank science for that.

 

[prasad1]

But the differences are that
The middle class man 50 years ago
lived a life of contentment and satisfaction.
He had morals.
He had values.
He valued the values.
Now people value only one thing Money!
Vitamin M is welcome by hook or crook / fraud or theft.

I agree with you in general.
But "patni kadantha Amavasiya wa". Just because you are fasting not by choice (no food to eat), does it become Amavasiya?
Contentment is achievable at any economic state, but for material comfort you need to money.