Nano driving White Tiger Slumdog loves a $10 Laptop

Yesterday I saw Slumdog Millionaire. So much controversy is already surrounding the movie that I don’t know what more to say. But here it goes.

While the supporters hail it as a marvelous movie that accurately portrays the underbelly of Mumbai, the other group sees it as a ghastly attempt at maligning the image of our great nation. We can recall a similar controversy around the book The White Tiger. While this debate is going on the movie has already won Golden Globes and is nominated for Oscars. Fact also remains that the movie has not done well at the Indian Box Office despite its international success. So what’s the ruckus all about?

You see, India is a strange country. Don’t we all know men working for blue chip firms demanding dowry, Page 3 people sheepishly not ordering drinks on a Tuesday night party, Men driving their luxury cars on CNG, Rock music head bangers who hardly understand the lyrics and a small food stall owner who makes more money than McDonalds next door?

I know you are nodding your heads…. That is India! We will pick up a fight with the bus conductor over two rupees and will shower several hundred rupee notes on the dhol wala on a marriage.

My point is it’s not easy to capture India on a single canvas of a book or a movie. India is different things for different people. Most Indians haven’t seen or understood the entire country. Give the foreigners a break! Can a movie or a book really malign the reputation of India? I doubt.

The only thing we need to do is chill out, not be ashamed of who we are and where we are coming from. The only reason Indian IT industry can offer a low cost solution is that for most of the employees a shared flat in a run down area of Middlesbrough is still dream come true! So what?

This is a transition time for India and many portrayals of the country, including the happy ones, may not be accurate. Rather than having a hangover of our golden history we must remind ourselves that quite recently we built the Nano, we landed Chandrayan on the Moon, we made the $10 Laptop, we bought big western firms, we rocked at the joint defense exercises, and we dominated the IT/BPO business. All this while we were mixing Vat 69 with Thumbs Up and munching Kurkure.

I am reminded of a call long time back when I was working for a call centre in Gurgaon. An old American gentleman wanted his computer fixed which he had infected with various Trojans and Spywares having surfed too much porn. He assumed I was an American, despite me using my Indian name, as I was good with the accent. He told me some bloody Indian call centre guy he spoke to earlier, could not fix it and he was happy to speak to an American now. I just went about my business and fixed his computer. When he asked me where I was located, I told him. He was embarrassed and apologized.

That’s all we’ve got to do. Carry on the good work. The misconceptions will disappear with time.

Yes We Can! Jai Ho!