3 Monkeys Anyone?

The birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi that fell on 2nd October, was also a time when we recalled the 3 monkeys that we have always associated with him. But the symbolism has changed. They now stand for:
See No Criticism
Hear No Criticism
Speak No Criticism

Let me explain.

The character of a people can be gleaned in many ways. Thus when people from other countries visit India they form opinions on the basis of what they see and encounter from the moment they visit the Indian embassy in their countries for a visa. Then follows the tourist’s experience on our streets. The results are well known to you.

I can see another way in which we can be judged. I suspect that when educated people meet at a seminar for example they may unconsciously use this yard stick to assess the character of a people. When Indians plan to attend a seminar in a foreign country they are judged from the moment they land up at that country’s embassy in India for a visa. As tourists, Indians are not regarded highly in many countries if surveys are to be believed.

I shall attempt to drive home my point by a recent concrete example which I have experienced. I may add here that I too am guilty of such reactions and I see such reactions in the US as well.

I wrote an article titled: “Why I Am Ashamed To Be An Indian.” I wrote it after reading a moving piece in a renowned journal in the US. I was not aware till I read this article by a celebrated writer of the extent of slavery in the India of the 21 st century. I was shocked to read that:
[1] There are more slaves in the world today than at any other time in history.
[2] India has more slaves than the rest of the world.
[3] In India many young underage girl slaves are being exploited for sex.

I wrote this piece hoping that someone higher up — like Rahul Gandhi for example — might take notice and take action to save these unfortunate Indians even as we gloat about our rise to superpower status. I was somewhat taken aback by the reaction from some readers. There were no doubt positive responses. But the barrage of verbal lashings I got was informative of the psychological forces I had unleashed. I list some of the more shrill ones without suggesting that they represented the national ethos.
[1] ‘Rubbish!’
[2]‘There is no slavery in India.’
[3] ‘Slavery is justified.’
[4] ‘You refuse to see India’s development.’
[5] ‘Why are people so negative?’
[6] ‘Did not Dr Kalam tell us to see the positive side of India?’
[7] ‘Ravi should not be allowed to write such things — he is getting cheap publicity.’
[8] ‘The sources of Ravi’s article are dubious.’

I have this theory that applies to individuals and nations. Initially a nation is touchy about criticism. I call this the stage of insecurity or the 3 Monkey Stage. In this stage we feel that any criticism against us is ‘motivated’ and never well meaning and people ought to concentrate on what we think are our achievements. We shut our ears. On our part we refuse to see the many tragedies happening around us — we shut our eyes. We are so fixated on our achievements that we shut our mouths to any self criticism. .

In the second stage which I call the stage of confidence, people are so confident of themselves that they accept that when they see themselves in the mirror, they see many warts. They are prepared to face criticism square on. The US was till recently in this stage. In a lighter vein I feel the Sikh community is in this stage; most ‘sardarji’ jokes show them in poor light and are originated by Sardars.

I can see the US slipping just that little bit as their country falters seriously on every front: economy, foreign policy, crime, corruption, educational standards etc. If things do not improve they may well regress to stage one and join India. Incidentally Indians settled in the US betray this mentality in that they often refuse to accept that their adopted country has serious flaws. The American may well accept these flaws but not our NRI!

In stage three which I call the stage of overconfidence, a nation cares not damn what others think about it and does whatever it deems fit even if it shocks the whole world. China fits the bill. Some may say that the US too is dangerously close to this stage even now.

To return to the reactions to my article on slavery my readers could well have googled for ‘Slavery In India.’ One of the first entries there is: http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1996/India3.htm