A Sigh of Dust

My sister pinged me with this link, and this introduction and instruction: "have you heard of this guy? I read him now and then... some one had fwded his blog called A Dust Over India... read at leisure, and let me know what u think of him...". And so now I have.

It occurs to me, that there are at least five reactions possible to this article on the part of any "red-blooded" Indian (whatever that means):

One: Go boiling mad, counter fervently,
Two: Get depressed, shed a helpless tear,
Three: Get idealistic, pick a damn fool cause and get to work,
Four: Go into denial, focus on the silver lining, move along. Nothing to see here...

As you probably guessed mine was none of the above. Me? I sigh.

Five: I read this, sit back, and sigh.


I will not qualify that sigh with a string of adjectives (as I am tempted to). Other than that pregnant expostulation, my only real reaction as I read it was that this is a brilliantly written piece. I love the language, and I can't nay-say any part of it.

Is it a bit... one sided? Not really!

Is it honest? Looks like it.

Especially this bit: "Every country we go to, our natural inclination is to search for some kind of greater meaning. “China’s finally making the leap,” or “Latin culture is exceedingly passionate,” or “Corruption dominates Russia,” — all of these trite little platitudes that we bring home with us and spill amongst our friends and loved ones to show that we did something significant, that we learned something interesting. This is where I went. This is the meaning. All in one or two sentences.


There’s no single sentence for India. The place is a fucking mess. And it’s the only country that I’ve ever been to where I left more confused than when I arrived. My search for meaning came up empty time and time again."

Indeed.

India bad. Poverty, garbage, overcrowding, mendacity, con-men, filth, beggars, slums, corruption, desperation, crime, helplessness...

India good. Spirituality, tourism, upward mobility, warmth, food, delights, vistas, architecture, monuments, wealth, genuineness, earnestness, hospitality, beauty...

True? Yep, both parts.

I can hardly pretend to know India inside out - having only spent some 28 years in it, sheltered from its harshest realities for the most part, and not having seen most of it. I also must admit that I have come to live in a figurative ivory tower that I don't really like to exit. My vacations are not in Agra if I can help it (although I have made it through the layers of filth and seen the Taj). No, the dream vacations are on the private beach in a five star resort with deep blue waters... the Elections I follow aren't between the Thackerays and the Pawars, but the ones between the Obamas and the Romneys. You get the picture. Yep, urban (I daresay) hipster here. Guilty as charged!

What's more, I'm as judgmental as any person, and have been known to frequently put my foot in my mouth... In my own time, I've gone out on a limb... and sawed it clean off! I've launched a rant or three which you can read here, most likely, if it was in the last year or two... But I know this, see? I know to sigh.

No, there is no 'single sentence'!

Not for India, nor the UK, nor the US, not for South Africa, nor France, not for Haiti, not for Zimbabwe, nor Iran, not for Indonesia, nor Brazil, not for Saudi Arabia, nor Pakistan, not for Singapore, nor Somalia. When was a single sentence enough for a single person, let alone a whole bunch of them? When did we think we could distill it down to one sentence for a whole country?

I'll tell you what though... this guy came close. Forget a whole sentence, I think he distilled things down to three fine words. An abrupt clause, even! And it isn't just descriptive of India to be honest. I think it's descriptive of humanity in general, in all our segregated and aggregated glory.

A fucking mess.

Indeed.