Kush Tandon of Herodotus's The Histories (Being Creative, Ak Dhum) is calling for an essay on Indian Changing.

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So how exactly does the westerner gauge the changes India is undergoing?

Well, our Kush Tandon sees prettier VJs on MTV for one! Wow. Now thats a great criterion. Very creative one too. And the food/service on Jet Airways was better he says.
How superficial and trivial a thing to measure India with! Only if sky-flying, MTV watching confused Desis get off their high horses and set their timid foot inside the rural India would they know what really is changing and what is not. They should really stop judging India by the comforts it can offer them while there waltz here for summer. Whining about toilets and airport amenities, potholes on roads and lack of decent cafes to drink their favorite brew is all that we hear from them. Can't be a lil' more creative on the complains, less self-centered perhaps?

Why not talk to a old granny who has seen India struggling for freedom and who today watches her favorite soap and politicians' bashan on digital TV- She will tell you what has changed. Or wander down to the village that has no electricity but has yet managed to send a local boy to the IAS. Or reach to the heights of Himalayas in Himachal and see farmer-wives harvest wild flowers and honey in their spare times. Walk in silence down the path with pilgrims going to Sabarimalai chanting and singing hymns. These are things that real India is made up of.
The change that everyone sees is material, but yet the soul lingers on watered down and diluted by the influential influences that modernity has borne down on Indian masses. Economics apart, poverty is yet a reality, and so is social injustice. The poorest of the poor haven't changed still.
While the media gleefully sings kumbaya with the cinema stars whom we as Indians revere more than gods, the brave soldier at the borders or the hardy doctor at some unknown village go unsung. No TV Channel or Newspaper deems it worthy to talk about the IITians and IIM grads who have given up on the ever glittering American dream to help India take a stride.

If creativity is the bloodline of Artists and Writers, Criticism, its watering hole.

Duane Alan Hahn once said, 'Concern over criticism clogs creativity'. My views here are a bit controversial and passionate; However, I welcome criticisms however vehement they are.. and I never indulge in censorship even of blatant irrational ones. I hope to expect the same from others, particularly from Kush Tandon. This is just an alternative viewpoint on the topic. Let me see if Tandon can handle some reprehension. The proof will be in his links.

Kush Tandon wants to see some creative writing on a topic he has come up with, 'India moves: I see a traffic jam with Toyotas, cows and elephants in Old-New Delhi'. Well, if he really loves creativity like the way he wears it on his sleeve, he should first reconsider his topic at once.

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns to look at things in a different way. -Edward De Bono

Cows and traffic on Indian roads is a horse flogged to pulp and even evaporated. Every tom, dick and harry who comes to India as a journalists has but a few bullet pointed things to write about. First comes the proverbial holy cow! Next, the grinding poverty, the slum or street dwellers and then, the caste system. Like old wine, the perennial topic of the widows of Varanasi is a recent favorite.

A billion lives, thousands of years of history and rich heritage, hundreds of varied cuisine, dresses, languages, architectures, landscapes and cultures have failed to do what a few cows on some busy street has achieved. They have unwillingly become the everlasting icons of India, for those who have failed to go deeper and beyond the shallowness of a few visits and scenes. Unless they who wish to know India take the plunge to live here (even in the big cities) for a year or so, they will never realize what they miss. Sometimes, this is a sorry thing and I almost feel pity for them.

Foreigners and NRI's who come to India tend to stay on the dotted lines of a pre-determined itinerary. While tourists follow the guide, NRI's tread the path to relatives and friends, shopping and urgent attempts to devour and see all that they can before their pithy holidays run out. They still go back hungry, making mental notes to allocate more time for their planned trip next time. There are still others who go back repulsed, hating the experience and wowing never to return to see the dirt, squalor and horrible corruption of the Babus. It is good to outright hate India, that way, one is never confused about loving India halfhearted.

India means a trillion things for a billion people. Yet for the majority outside of her, it is still a land of snake-charmers, Suttee (satis), caste and maharajas on elephants. This outright redundant petrified perception must change. Also India as a recreational disneyland for holidaying and fertile grounds for bride-hunting for NRI's should undergo a radical mophism. They should feel an inalienable part of this landscape, ready to embrace their land of origins without psychological strings attached and must endeavor to look at India with much more than just nostalgia and patronising feeling of feeding her with foreign exchange or technology. And that is for their own sake.

And for India's sake, please ignore the blissful cow! unless you feel that they ought to be slaughtered and minced into hamburgers the very next second.