Will India reach new heights?

It feels so good that we all are proud to be Indians. I am in Chicago and I keep on telling my clients (whenever I get chance), India is great, India has Tajmahal etc. I remember the day after Slumdog Millionaire got flooded with Oscar awards, I went to office with my head high and my clients were praising India for the movie. There are innumerous such instances, Tajmahal getting voted as No1 in all seven wonders etc etc etc, the list goes on and on and on.

But today, if I look back from a critic’s point of view and see what’s happening, I find that we all are living in a fantasy world. Is India really so great?

I won’t count multiple instances shown in movies (Rann, Halla Bol, Rang de basanti, 3 Idiots etc).

I will just count one example which is not shown in any movie and that is close to my field (software).

We deliver IT services and we are so proud of it. Job market is so good in India because of various software companies and call centers. But if we sit back and think what it has done to India, I am sure we will get surprised if not shocked.

Today, we are being called as “vendors” across the world. I saw its actual meaning in dictionary. The meaning of vendor is “A vendor is someone who sells things such as newspapers, cigarettes, or food from a small stall or cart.” In some dictionaries, the example given is “ice-cream seller”. Is there any difference between us and a newspaper boy delivering newspaper at our doors? I would say that there is not much difference.

So what is the solution? Shouldn’t we go ahead and become publishers of newspaper instead of being delivery boys? Why can we not become publishers? What’s stopping us to do so? Lot many questions strike in mind.

I believe that till 1947, we were slaves of British and now we “think” we are independent but actually we are still slaves of most of the western countries by serving their companies in call centers and saying “Yes sir/madam, how can I serve you today”.

Now, the question is what should we do? We have made our economy better by being newspaper selling boy. What next?

One major step to future is to bring innovative ideas, support product based companies in our country. Indians do have the capability to develop amazing products. They have been developing products but not in India. If they get good salaries here, they can do the same thing in India. Apart from this, greed should be avoided. There are many companies who took this initiative and when they started doing great, few foreign companies bought them in few million dollars. If even one Indian company makes a product which can change the world, I am sure all other companies will follow and product development will become a trend in India.

After 25 years, I would love to see people from western countries supporting Indian products. Won’t it be good that if you call someone for issues with your laptop and hear a voice at other end of the phone “Namaste, kaise hain aap aur main kaise aapkee sahayataa kar sakta hoon” and you easily make out that “Hey this guy is not Indian, he is just faking Indian accent :D”