Dangerous Introduction

"If you expect the worst, you'll never be disappointed"

Pessimism is a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or to believe that the worst will happen or a lack of hope or confidence in the future.

The "lack of hope" factor is sometimes easily endorsed by people who are suffering or have suffered through hard times. It is applicable not only to individuals but also groups of peoples which are known as nations.

India, an unpredictable country with one of the highest contrasts and diversities that you may ever find in a single nation. For example, India has four of the richest people in the world but has one of the highest below poverty population too, she has proved herself in almost every field of education yet has a literacy rate of 74% which is way below the global average of 84%

Generally when the words "Diversity in India" are heard or read, the first thing that comes to mind is the cluster of cultures, colourful festivals, traditional concepts, religions etc. Today we are not going to talk about any of those.

It is said that:

"Never judge a book by its Cover"

 In this blog I am going to do exactly the opposite.

Its a fact that India is progressing its way forward on its own path in its own way setting a trend. Neither has it gone the research way (like the "west") nor has it gone the bulk manufacturing way (the "east"), India is standing upright with a booming services sector as the backbone of the economy and I believe its not doing a bad job.

But there are a few things hindering the development, by the title you are smart enough to judge what I am talking about. From now on, whatever you read may contradict with your knowledge and early perceptions therefore I make it clear that nothing is absolute of definite, it is not possible to classify a population of 1.2 billion in a single category. There might be large variations. I am just trying to take a general outlook

The risk of changing minds and setting the trends does not go very well with general Indian population. You might think I am actually contradicting from what I said a while ago. That is the sole reason why I have said India is diverse and unpredictable.

A child in India is born with lot of responsibilities. The bollywood blockbuster movie "3 idiots" clearly highlights this fact. If we broadly divide India into two categories namely Urban and Rural, you will mostly witness the following:

Urban: Parents heavily invest in education, but will retain the authority to select the child's profession.
Rural: Negligible investment in education, children are mostly helping hands in their parents' profession which has been going on for generations

Its not anyone's fault in this. India has been plundered and looted for centuries now, betrayals being a major method (continues even today in the form of corruption). So in today's India, it is a general belief that the rich is invincible if not powerful. This makes every parent want their child to be monetarily satisfied. Lets leave this here for a while.

India faces another problem -- "Unnecessary Criticism".

Criticisms are generally good. They give you an opportunity to realise your mistakes and rectify them, only if coming from sensible people with knowledge of subject. But anything in excess is dangerous and getting heavily criticised by idiots is fatal. Unnecessary criticisms happen all around the world, Einstein rightly said:

"Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds"

but in India, people are generally frustrated because of negative things happening all around them. Sensationalism fuels it. Frustration leads to people being more interested in learning about negative news because they ultimately never expect a positive outcome. This wish is fulfilled by the so called "vibrant and dynamic" media. Which in turn makes criticizing a habit. The result is that this wheel (or cycle you may call it) continues to expand and take more people under its grip.

Need proof? go to timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Start reading the comments on the articles. It will surpass your ability to criticise something by a large margin (Note: The comments on this website are not moderated)

All of these things namely frustration, criticism, sensationalism, betrayals etc. are like termites. They weaken the brain, the thinking power, ability to conceptualise, logic etc. Only things they strenghthen is fear, sadness, lack of belief and trust, doubts and so on.

Coming back to education. As I mentioned earlier, every parent wants his child to be monetarily satisfied. For this, as the parents have seen the world they know what is, according to them the best way to do that and experimenting is certainly not one of them because it doesnt give immediate returns. The poor child gets groped into all this and is mostly deprived or for some other reason unable to follow his own wishes. Student suicide rates are high in India for this reason.

Even if such a child doesn't commit suicide, ultimately he is killing himself as well as his wishes every moment. This leads to development of pessimistic attitude and intellectual weakness of the future population.

Now coming to general people, we realise that the scene is not much different.

"This country has no future", "Its a garbage bin which will never be cleaned", "The rich and goons will always rule", "Nothing will change"

are some of the common things which most people must have definitely heard or said or even propagated. This negative attitude poses a big challenge. Never in the history has there been  any kind of change or growth without the support of the masses.

People blame government for not doing anything


When the government does, people don't follow.


When the government spends on defence and space program, people say they should spend on basic amenities.


When the government spends on basic amenities, people question if at all government has a big vision for India.


When the government spends, people are sure that the expenditure is inflated and corruption has a role to play.


When the government starts a project, people are sure that it is bound to fail.

These are the signs of pessimism. Unless something is a success it is considered as a failure whereas it should be exactly the opposite. Moreover, pessimism is so much engraved into our minds that instead of appreciating what the government is doing, more concentration is laid on what the government is not doing.

The government isn't always right. Nor is it always appreciable and it is the people's responsibility to correct it. However, I would definitely like to know if all the things done by the government are wrong? If it is so then I question how is a population of 1.2 billion living without governance.

Nevertheless, the times are changing. Rome wasn't built in a day. Nor will the new India be built in a day.


But it is my humble request to everyone to please look or at least hope positively and develop an optimistic attitude.

I have purposely not mentioned anything about potential and practical solutions to this problem in this post to highlight the seriousness of this problem. As per my personal experience, any problem which is highlighted with solutions dilutes its seriousness.

Always remember

"You are defeated only when you believe that you have been defeated"

But I conclude with a small ray of hope by this video made by the same news organisation that I was criticising above -- The Times Of India. This is an example that not everything in the world is always bad.

Hindi Version:

English Version: