The Real Indians

Tuesday, 6 PM. As I stepped out of the lift, the male security guard at the reception stopped me, requesting to get my bag checked, in case I was secretly carrying some office valuables with me.

Inspection isn't something that I am fond of, and I try to avoid it whenever possible, for I have self-belief in not being a guy who'd steal valuables. I am not even a kleptomaniac, so leave that aside as well. The values put in by my parents and teachers prevent me from doing quite a few things.

And as I wanted to tell that guard that I am not a thief, I just remembered a recent incident in which I had uttered what was on my mind.

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I was with a friend, who had become more uneasy with the repeated process of getting backs inspected, and when he was raising his concern with the guard I chipped in with a small sentence "You mean to say that we are thieves?". After some time, the guard's manager came, and my friend got into a discussion with him. In between, the guard told him what I had said, and though it didn't receive much importance, I sensed that he had been hurt because of me, despite me not having any such intentions.

While the guard was perfectly obeying his duties - performing security checks on individuals irrespective of the position held by them; somehow I could sense that he was an honest bloke, who'd never commit any sort of crime despite not being as financially rich as the ones holding stature similar to me.

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Coming back to life, I handed over my bag to the security guard. He handed me a register and asked me to fill in details like my name, ID, contact number, etc. He placed the register in such a way that I'd feel comfortable, and won't have to budge from my existing posture.

When I finished writing, the guard was still doing his job. So I walked few steps and looked out, to notice that it was raining heavily.

Yaju Arya - "Oh my god, quite a heavy rain, isn't it?"
Security Guard 1 - [smiles]
Security Guard 2 (she was a lady) - [laughing] "Didn't you know that?"
YA - "I had seen dark clouds from my cubicle's window, didn't know it was raining to this extent"
SG2 - [smiles]
SG1 - "Here you go sir"
YA - "Do I need to write anything else?"
SG1 - "No sir, that's it"
YA - "Thank you"
SG1, SG2 - "Welcome sir"

Off I went, carrying memories of those whose mother tongue wasn't Hindi, yet they used that language for communicating with me. They might be facing numerous issues at home, aren't big shots in professional sense, still they were carrying smiles on their faces.

India has often been branded as a Corrupt nation, the stereotyped image in most Western countries isn't something very positive (some people credit Slumdog Millionaire for denting that further). And when in India, you are branded more for the region / community you belong to, rather than a common nationality.

For some time, I wondered, who are the Real Indians.
* Are they Tamils, for they claim themselves to have originated from this country?
* Are they Gujaratis, for Vegetarianism and non-Alcoholism is prominent over there?
* Are they the ones from Uttar Pradesh, for it is the major hub of Ancient Indian sites such as River Ganga and Varanasi?
* Are they the ones from Punjab, for this is where Vedas were written?

And then I thought, no mate, we all are Indians now. Whatever be our source of origin, whatever be our belief, right now all of us are citizens of India.

And then I wondered even more - Who are the Real Indians?
* Are they the ones who take active interest in ancient Indian texts such as the Vedas? It incurred to me that even in that age, very few people took interest in intellectual stuff, similar to today's times, and I know some people who don't have interest in such things but that won't classify them as Non-Indians.

* Are they the ones who take interest in all things Indian? There are people who wear some specific coloured clothes in a particular pattern, preach spiritual stuff, explain verses with the use of few Sanskrit words, and eat only Indian cuisine. However, there are some who are exactly opposite, yet they go and stand on the national border in order to prevent enemy soldiers from creeping in.

* Are they the ones who highlight issues occurring in the country? I won't say that all those who openly criticized Delhi Common Wealth Games 2010 were patriotic. While some had genuine constructive criticism, this wasn't the case with all of them.

* Those who chose to remain in India? India is the only country I have seen, where people value their roots and think about its welfare, despite being born and brought up in some other country. A significant number of Non Residential Indians(NRI's) contribute more towards India's welfare compared to the ones residing in the nation. Though all aren't like that in behaviour, the better ones do have to face the wrath of getting stereotyped by those living in their adopted country as well as parent country.

* APJ Abdul Kalam is among the most patriotic humans I have seen, who happens to be well versed with Quran as well as Bhagwat Gita. One the best teachers under whom I studied was a Christian. So don't even get started on the topic of a religion not having its founders from India.

And so, after much thought, I have finally realized who the Real Indians are.

They are the ones, whose conscience doesn't let them commit any kind of robbery.
They are the ones, who don't forget to smile, despite facing numerous hurdles.
They are the ones, who make an effort to learn about items pertaining to National Interest, through mediums other than the school.
They are the ones, who would do anything to earn daily bread, except hurting someone.
They are the ones, who carry on in life, despite facing humiliations from the ones above them.
They are the ones, who remain connected to their roots, even if they are far away.
They are the ones, who keep faith despite knowing what happened in the past.
They are the ones, who accept reality and come to terms with it.
They are the ones, whose name may not go in History books, but are concerned about living for the moment.
They are the ones, having high levels of tolerance, for they accept those who are different from them.

(All Photographs courtesy Arjun Suri Photography)