Reality Bites

Am I a cynical, narrow minded, pessimist who always, looks at the negative side of the things and fails to relish the positives? I try not to be one. But, I had to put an effort to stop whining about things to myself. This blog is a result of a failed effort.

On the very same day when the websites were flooded with news about a few Indians winning the coveted Oscars, people expressing their happiness through facebook feeds, gtalk, etc. I received an email from a Swedish colleague, in Swedish, calling for donations to one of the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) projects which read something like:

(The mail was in Swedish, translation by Google)

Project 1: Building new sovlokaler in the orphanage in the village of Kolkata
Mathieson Music School (MMS) is an orphanage located in the village of Kolkata in India. Many children in this
by living in a DISTRESSED situation

Project:
- Build new sovlokaler for girls, will be able to provide room for 100 girls aged 5-18 years
- Building safer sovlokaler (build up in height, including to avoid snakes)
- To assist the increasing number of children with education, meals, medicines, books, etc.
General facts about India
- A quarter of the world's poor are in India
- 20 percent of the world's children without education available in India
- 50 percent of children in India are malnourished
More info: www.mathiesonmusictrust.org or talk to Catharina Zetterquist Melander

I was ecstatic and read about the news from all the possible news sites I knew. My patriotic self was brimming with pride and honor that my country men brought laurels to the country. The mail brought me to reality and reminded me of the plight of majority in my country. More importantly got reminded of big hue and cry about portrayal of the Mumbai and its slums in the movie, by some elite people in the country. It’s very important to know that the world knows that we are a great country with some of the exceptional qualified and talented people, at the same time they also knew about the dark side. There is no point in denying it or criticizing the people/movies that portray it. As an individual, given a choice to select between ‘Me not receiving this type of email for ever’ and ‘An Indian not winning an Oscar for next 50 years’, I would blindly go for the first option without giving a second thought.

I am proud of the crew of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and my hearty congratulations to them for making a wonderful movie. At the same time when I read a mail like that, it puts in a doubt in my mind, if I have to be overly happy. To put it short, its ‘Disturbing’.

Reality Bites