India in the western eye.
It was a fine Saturday morning stock markets closed and there was practically nothing left for me to do, a stroll through the crowded streets seemed a good idea; a book stall can do wonders when one has got time to spare. That day also worked some wonders although in a different fashion. The Book stall owner with his usual smile brought good news “Sir we have a prepublication offer on a three book series on world nations. The book itself is a good bargain for the discounted prepublication price and to make the offer irresistible on offer is a set of National Geographic CD roms on Forces of Nature and one on Designs. Then there is also a six CD single pack from The Discovery Channel School titled World Geography worth Rs 1245 free with the book.
“How much for the book”? I asked. “ sir, three volumes 2500 pages, as a ‘gold card holder’ (a special privilege offer to regular customers) you get substantial discount extra”. This offer was irresistible to me though I usually avoided such ‘offers’. “A pack of discs worth Rs 4000 free it is too much! What disc is that when good quality CDs available for one tenth of that price”.
“Sir it is a publication by the world renowned Discovery Channel and it covers whole nations of the world, please see the book; you will definitely buy one”
I browsed through the samle book and found it worth the amount; more over the Rs 4000 worth discs were a lure that caught the mind –if it is worth Rs 4000 it must be some real thing!. I ordered the book and the CD packet and returned home happily.When the book and the goodies finally arrived i was quick to browse through the book and to check the cd’s too.
I checked the cd titled Discovery Channel School World Geography’. Was impressed by the opening sentence that read “ Discovery Channel School, a leading provider of quality education resources that help teachers bring the world to their students. It covers all nations region wise. Hence more of less a time of two to 5 minutes was only devoted to each nation.
I browed through the country index and quickly found India. I was shocked to see how ignorant were the team that covered the feature.
Please follow their text ‘India is the second most ‘populist’ country in the world. Though it is hard to get on exact count, scientists estimate that more than one billion people live in it’ They forget or are ignorant of the fact that India’s censes system as recognized by the United Nations is the most efficient in the world. In this aspect they must have been talking about Burma! Please remember that the product is of 2007; a very latest one.
Next ‘Indians are free to work in whatever jobs they want, but that wasn’t always possible from this to the last part the theme centers on dalit issue and that alone as if they have to say nothing about a great country that has gained much braving against all odds since independence. It all seem like the early tricks of evangelists who used exploit painful situations of one nation for their selfish gain. It remains a fact that India’s dalits constitute a minority and their recent progress is praiseworthy and they have occupied all top positions of the nation.
But there are many non-dalits in this nation of whom they have nothing good to say only blaming them for the dalits’ fate. I have three questions to the publishers of this product
1 Why you have said nothing of the racism -when those nations were mentioned – it very much exists in developed nations,
2 why you did not see any thing that is good in India and kept mum about its opportunities and challenges?
3 why you presented such unbalanced views on India that is the greatest democracy in the world? As a media product your publication should have done justice to a great nation with a balanced view.
If space constraint was the reason showing all shameful aspects about India in such elaborate way is not justified. There are many countries in the world poorer than India engaged in greater discrimination to their people. The present position India has gained in the world is hard earned and it is the result of determination and hard work of its people. India is growing with 8% plus GDP and has been accepted as the super power of information technology, these are things even common people know what happened to the team of the ‘Discovery Channel School a leading provider of quality education’! is hard to guess.
Among the thousands of people who were scanned by their vicious camera not even a single well dressed human being is visible while whole the beggars, waifs and strays filled the shots. I was humiliated by the stark cynicism the camera had shown. India has so many things like poverty and diseases; every nation on earth has such things, why ‘Discovery’s camera has forgotten to show such things of other nations, and why they have forgotten to show good things of India. It all must be a purposefully manipulated to project to show India in a very bad light, their sympathy to Indian dalits seems suspect.
I’m giving below the exact words of the commentary as it is on the cd. This will give u a better picture of how things look from their angle.
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India – (time alloted 2:23)
India lies in the massive south asia peninsula. It is approximately a third of the size of the united states and is bordered by Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Nepal and Pakistan as well as Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
India is the second most populist country in the world. Though it is hard to get an exact count, scientists estimate that more than one billion people live there.
Today Indians are free to work in whatever jobs they want. But that was not always possible. As lays 1949 India was made up of many tight knit social groups called junta or castes that determined a persons occupation, friends and even whom they can marry.
Early conquerors from southern Russia and Central Asia put people into casts when they conquered India in the second millennium BC. They created castes t give everyone a special purpose and to create order in Indian Society. There are many different castes in India. Hindu priests called Brahmins were the highest cast. Merchants and Farmers were members of a special caste called the vaisias while the peasants and laborers belonged to the lowest caste the Sudras. Unlike the Brahmins, Vaisias and Sudras; Dalits were people without a caste. They were not able to lie and work in the same area as non dalits. But the worst thing about being a dalit was how others treated them. Dalits were considered untouchables because people from higher castes thought that just touching a dalit would contaminate them. The Indian government abolished the term untouchable and all discriminations against dalits in 1949 in order to make India a modern, democratic country. The Indian Government has been working to stop discrimination against dalits by sponsoring schools and providing medical care. Some dalits have overcome oppression and now have power in Indian Society. These successful people and others use their time and money to promote more schools, healthcare and a better life to other dalits in India. It will take time to change the way dalits are seen in India but as a pull together these people who were once untouchables are improving their lives and looking towards the future.
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If the text does not impress you then watch the visual if possible that wills sure do the trick.
14 comments:
estube por aquí saludos
My dear friend, don't live in an assumed paradise. There is no need to be chauvinistic and fanatic. That article depicts India exactly it is. A very small example, though might seem irrelevant but is not, is that I cannot get a driving license with out bribing someone and also I can get one as well without appearing in person by paying some agent. These small depict the exact nature of the people.
Assuming you have a sound and proper knowledge of history I will go further.
Racism there in Western countries was opposed from with in and there was support from with the people to curb it. They neither justify racism nor it is in their religion. And the slave traders were not normal citizens mostly: read history. People from within argued against it. The reason you know about racism is not some Indian who went and raised an alarm. It is the abolitionists who made an issue out of it and finally it is out. Now, here they did not hide racism and lied to the world. They recorded what happened and they are remorseful of what happened.
In contrast, here in this 'great country', if you are living in a village and you belong to lower caste, you are not even fit to obtain a glass of water. And no one from with in opposes it. Recently, 20 dalit youths were beaten up in a place 60 km from India's IT capital, Bangalore. What do you have to say about that?
Now, let me ask you something. Now, who pointed out 'the caste' in India?
I don't say that the western countries are all clean. But atleast they are clean in the sense that they do not try to cover up the evils in their society. They do not justify them by accusing those who expose them. This slavery was rampant for 300 years nearly, due the discovery of new trade routes such as the 'Atlantic'. The abolitionists finally put an end to it in the name of God.
But in contrast in India, a section of people were oppressed for more than a millennium of recorded Indian history. The worst thing is they are justifying the caste. In my opinion there is no justification whatsoever. Still, the caste is so rigid, that higher castes look down upon the so-called lower castes with a condescending air. Did you ever try to make an effort to understand how this would effect the society as a whole? Do you think this is a trivial issue that it deserves no mention at all? Do you think that the situation has bettered over time? No, my dear friend, it has worsened all the more. Should they ignore such a grave issue and not show it?
You might be wearing nice clothes and having good food everyday, but the fact remains that more than 90% of this country's population live in extreme poverty. They do not have even Rs 12 to spend on their food everyday. How much do you spend on your food everyday? But you do not represent most part of it. Should they show you to describe India?
All the money you pay as tax goes into the pockets the greedy and wicked and corrupt leaders and politicians while their children behave like rowdy sheeters and criminals in public and they are beyond the reach of law. Law does not apply to their children. Their children are squandering your hard earned money. This is a harsh reality.
For a better understanding and perspective, go to the interior parts of this country. Search for the truth.
Do not be under a delusion that India is an 'IT super power' and all that stuff. Do not fall for the media hype and the politicians' 'all is well' talk.
Though this may sound new and outlandish to your wrong notions, with out the help of the west India would not be the way she is today. This is not due to your sheer hard work and determination. Except the IITs and RECs and some good technological institutes in India, most of them are established to earn profits. Money.. The quality of the professionals who come out is worse than a good high school graduate in the US. The west is making profits out of the cheap and less skilled labour. The Indian IT industry is characterised mostly by low end work which does not require much techical expertise. This by no means make India a super power. As long corruption is in the people's minds, this country will never become any power. No body accepted India as superpower. Who told you that? The GDP rate is growing owing much of it to the IT sector. It will grow forever. After a while, it stabilises to a value much lower than the west.
Germans, Americans and the English help set up different IITs in India. Read Abdul Kalam's auto biography. There he mentions his engg college. Read and try to understand the way things were. Visit www[dot]kamalsinha[dot]com. He is an IITian who studied with Nandan Nilakeni and Dr. Karmakar who formulated the famous 'Karmakar's algorithm'[ Notice, that they gave due credit to Dr. Karmakar. They did not say that we knew it already. In this 'great country', some sections, shamelessly proclaim and propagate that all the technological advancements of the west were known to their ancestors always. They shamelessly, backfit many things into their superstitions.] Now, did they refuse to cooperate. They helped the newly formed state. Don't you say that India is an ancient country. There was never an India in the past to begin with. I can substantiate my statements with proper facts. Can you?
And about the tricks the evangelists played. In the beginning, the East India Company did not want to touch the existing society. Their sole aim was to make money; to earn profits. Now, kindly remember: that time, the upper castes were oppressing the lower castes as it always had been for atleast a millennium. That time, the missionaries wanted to change all this. They left their families and dedicated their lives to the people of this land. They uplifted the oppressed people and told the about the God whom they knew is the source of all good things. They built schools, hospitals. They wrote dictionaries.
Two missionaries in the eighteenth century, from Germany, came to Tamilnadu. They sat in hot burning sand along with other higher caste kids to learn Tamil from an instructor who refused, earlier, to teach, because, they were not brahmins. They lived here for 40 years without going back to their home land. One of them died here on Tamilnadu soil while the other went back after 40 long years. Can you do this? Or any of those who accuse them of their tricks do this? They do not care to give them a glass of water to those oppressed people while they are ready to hurl abuses and are ready to 'expose' their tricks.
Do you know that the west supported India in the 50s and 60s with wheat and milk for subsidized rates and sometimes for free? I am saying that you have to fall prostrate before them or anything like that.
What I am saying is keep things in perspective.
Don't just say things to satisfy your pride.
I ask you somethings: Do you pay your taxes well? Do you follow the traffic signals? Do you have respect for the law of this country?
Instead of getting irked by the facts, try to educate your self with some history. Instead of show casing your 'patriotism' to the whole world, when someone says something bad about this country, first try to verify the facts and know the truth. Do your part to change it.
Body independent spirit enslaved.
Thank you for your well documented comment; where you have expressed the moral indignation of a true patriot who is frustrated by the ugly games politicians and the so called upper class play. It may be brought to your attention that ‘The Kerala Articles’ never denied the fact that oppression and corruption exists in our nation. These phenomena exist in all nations more backward the nation is more corrupt the people and the government will be.
But the speed in which our dalit brothers are improving is astounding and undeniable. As a responsible media product they should have stressed that too, it was the theme of our article, we never hate the west and India is not comparable with the west, it should be compared with Pakistan, Nepal or Bangladesh. Now to show casteism we have to go to the remote corners of villages- a phenomenon which was once prevalent throughout the nation.
When India was in food crisis the west have offered us that and we should not be thankless to anybody; and Kerala Article never denied these facts. Please never connect it with spiritual slavery. India also had helped other nations in crisis. Never expect them stand unruly criticism from our side.
When a publication from well reputed concern covered the entire nations in the world; India alone was pictured black and nothing positive on India was pictured, and as an Indian concern we have all rights to demand a ‘balanced view’ from them. Blatant criticism never improves relationship; our intension is to get only for a fair approach and we still think it is right for good relationships.
We are sorry if it anyway hurt your feelings. Kerala Articles always welcome exhortations that spring from moral indignation; our article was of the same category. We expect more contributions from you in future.
Iam Proud to be an I N D I A N
"A man who believes in himself and not circumstances is the real winner - SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
Please go through below mentioned facts, and you'll know what makes me PROUD.
1. Who is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems?
Mr. Vinod Khosla
2. Who is the creator of Pentium chip (90% of the today's computers run on it)?
Mr. Vinod Dham
3. Who is the third richest man on the world?
According to the latest report on Fortune Magazine, He is Premji who is the CEO of Wipro industries. The Sultan of Brunei is at 6th position now.
4. Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (World's No. 1 web based E-Mail program)?
Mr. Sabeer Bhatia later on sold to Microsoft.
5. Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the creator of program languages such as C, C++, UNIX to name a few)?
Mr. Arun Netravalli
6. Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard?
Mr. Rajiv Gupta
7. Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?
Mr. Sanjay Tejwrika
8. Who are the Chief Executives of Citibank, Mckensey & Standard Charted?
Mr. Victor Menezes, Mr. Rajat Gupta and Mr. Rana Talwar
We Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even faring better than the whites and the natives:
There are 3.22 Millions of INDIANs in USA (1.5 % of population).
1. YST, 38% of doctors in USA are INDIANs.
2. 12% scientists in USA are INDIANs.
3. 36% of NASA scientists are INDIANs.
4. 34% of Microsoft employees are INDIANs.
5. 28% of IBM employees are INDIANs.
6. 17% of INTEL scientists are INDIANs.
7. 13% of XEROX employees are INDIANs.
Quotes about India:
"We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made" - Albert Einstein.
"India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition" - Mark Twain.
"If there is one place on the face of earth where all dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India" - French scholar Romain Rolland
These facts were recently published in a German Magazine, which deals with WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA
1. India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history.
2. India invented the Number system. Aryabhatta invented zero.
3. The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects.
4. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
5. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.
6. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.
If this was not enough there are some more.
1. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word "Navigation" is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
2. Budhayana first calculated the value of pi, and he explained the concept of what is now known as the Pythagorean Theorem. British scholars have last year (1999) officially published that Budhayan's works dates to the 6th Century, which is long before the European mathematicians.
3. Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus came from India. Quadratic Equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th Century.
4. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 1053.
5. According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.
6. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jagdish Bose and not Marconi.
7. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
8. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones.
9. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India.
10. When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
11. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
12. India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border" Hu Shih (former Chinese Ambassador to USA) If we don't see even a glimpse of that great India in the India that we see today, it clearly means that we are not working up to our potential, and that if we do, we could once again be an ever shining and inspiring country setting a bright path for rest of the world to follow.
So Say PROUDLY - IAM an Indian.
Dear Mr. Sinu Kumar,
You presented half truths and in some instances propaganda by unscrupulous communal elements in this country which are totally fabricated lies.
1. Who is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems?
Mr. Vinod Khosla
Mr. Vinod Khosla, I have a very great respect for him and admire him a lot. My dear friend, he was educated at IIT Delhi(which was set up with the help of Illinois institute of Technology, Illinois, if I remember correctly) and later at Carnegie Mellon University. But why do you use his name? Could you not use some name from your college? Every year thousands of engineering graduates come out of the colleges. But the quality of the students who come out is not even equal to a good high school graduate elsewhere. This again does not show the 'collective brilliance' of India. It just shows the personal capacity of Mr. Vinod Khosla and reminds of the aid by the west to set up IIT, Delhi.[/i]
2. Who is the creator of Pentium chip (90% of the today's computers run on it)?
Mr. Vinod Dham
[i]I hold a degree in Electronics. Pentium is not an overnight creation by Mr. Vinod Dham. Again you are wrong here. He lead the team that brought out Pentium 2. It is a successor to a long line of chips from Intel. Intel first made 4004, then some short lived intermediates, then 8085, then 8086. All most of the subsequent chips from Intel for personal computers were based on this architecture called x86 architecture. Then came 80186, then 80286, then 80386, then 80486, then they Pentium(actually it is 80586, Intel now actually named it because they cannot patent a number as a trade mark). And the subsequent chips as you might be aware of. I know what a design is and I know who contributed what. It is a result of improviing the older designs and progress in a lot of other related fields and technologies as well. I am not undermining Mr. Vinod Dham. I just want you to see things correctly. Don't get carried away by half truths and lies. He is not the creator of Pentium. No single man can create such a complex design as the Pentium alone.[/i]
3. Who is the third richest man on the world?
According to the latest report on Fortune Magazine, He is Premji who is the CEO of Wipro industries. The Sultan of Brunei is at 6th position now.
[i]He is not the third richest man. He is 21 according to credible sources. But, what do you want to convey by telling how rich he is? Say....Does he becoming rich improve the infrastructure of your city? Or.. how does it impact you or the society?
Charles F. Feeney had about USD 1,600 million in assets. Mr. Chuck Feeney gave away 99.9 percent of it, leaving himself with about the remaining 0.1 percent (USD 1.5 million). Now that is the way to impact the society.[/i]
4. Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (World's No. 1 web based E-Mail program)?
Mr. Sabeer Bhatia later on sold to Microsoft.
[i]Who founded the concept of e-mail and the internet and the intercommunication of computers? Did you know that the internet was a US defense project that was later extended for public use?
Here, I am not undermining Mr. Sabeer Bhatia. I am just pointing out your twisted way of presenting the facts.
By the way, Yahoo is the world's most popular email.[/i]
5. Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the creator of program languages such as C, C++, UNIX to name a few)?
Mr. Arun Netravalli
[i] He is the president of Bell labs. He earned it by his sheer hardwork and capability like everyone else at his level. They did not give it to him just because he is of Indian origin. If you speak on that terms, Bell labs' origin was not Indian at all. C was written by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie and they are not Indians.[/i]
6. Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard?
Mr. Rajiv Gupta
[i] Just like Mr. Arun Netravalli, he too earned it. You have to note that they did not hinder their progress, just because they are Indians. But here a north Indian is not generally favored in the South and vice versa. The north people describe Southern languages as, 'They sound like a tin with full of pebbles'.[/i]
7. Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?
Mr. Sanjay Tejwrika
[i]Who founded Microsoft? Mr. Tejwrika?
For that matter, Kai-Fu Lee is the head of Google China, formerly a Microsoft executive and the founder in 1998 of Microsoft Research Asia.. Are the Chinese doing a similar propaganda? Instead of piping on their successes, try to achieve excellence.[/i]
These facts were recently published in a German Magazine, which deals with WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA
1. India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history.
[i]There was never a country called India before in history until 1947 and until the mid sixties, it was not integrated as it is now. There does not arise a question about 'India invading' another country in a 1000 yrs. On similar lines, I could say USA started invading only roughly 60 yrs ago in the last 1000 yrs. While the truth is there was never a USA before the sixteenth century. Read history properly and educate yourself before saying something.
Mughals invaded much part of the land, which is called India now, and their influence spreaded till the southern most parts of the country. Even during their reign, there always were wars amongst the princely states. And before them, each part was ruled by a different king.
Under the reign of mughals, much of the present India was under a single monarch which was surpassed by the British. Under their rule, most part of the present India was in their control, larger than the extent of the Mughal empire.[/i]
2. India invented the Number system. Aryabhatta invented zero.
[i]This is, to my best knowledge, the propaganda of the unscrupulous communal elements in this country.
Based upon the interpretations of the old texts, they said that it might be possible that Aryabhatta independently used the zero, apart from the other scholars of the world. Not that he invented it. This has been doing rounds in the forwards. I came across this quite a many number of times.
This is manipulation of truth by the same communal elements.[/i]
3. The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects.
4. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
[i]This is an exaggeration and mis representation of the facts. First of the concept of the modern present day universities did not originate in this part of the world at all.
Around 2000 BC, Egyptian culture also rose to much prominence. There are a lot of other facts to be mentioned. On the same lines, I could say that the Nile delta had the world's first university preceding the Indian university of Taxila.
And where did the whole world come into picture? Does the whole world mean higher caste in India who adhered to the Vedic traditions? Until recently, before the British came the lower castes were denied even the basic amenities and were(and are in many places) were not even treated on par with animals.
When the British came, the Brahmins did not know where to put them in the caste hierarchy. Surely, Manu did not anticipate such a situation. Therefore, they were thought to be even lower than the Sudras. Surely, if the whole world came to this glorious university, the Brahmins in the 19 century would have known about the 'caste' of the foreigners .
Now, which world is this whole world?
And about the Nalanda univerity, around the sametime Median, Greek and Roman cultures rose. Though China remained aloof and isolated, they too made great strides in their country. Greeks made a great progress in the field of Mathematics. They sure mention their achievement, but not in this way. They do not propagate lies or tell half truths.[/i]
5. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.
[i] For that matter, any language can be a suitable language and English had done quite well as a matter of fact. They considered Sanskrit, because it has a rigid and unambiguious grammar. Because, it is not spoken anymore, the words have no connotations and therefore does not age consequentially. Therefore, they considered that to be a possibility. Now, this does not enhance India's stature.[/i]
6. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.
[i]Only the Indians were living in the world before? Other people came into existence only after the Indians invented medicine and extablished universities? Ayurveda itself does not have a disambigous defination. And what do you have to say about the similar medicinal techniques by the African tribes and South American natives? Just because, they did not start a propaganda, does not make the Ayurveda the earliest system of medicine.[/i]
If this was not enough there are some more.
1. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word "Navigation" is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
[i] These are the same sources, which claim that 'George' came from 'Garg' and so on. Indo-Iran-European languages possess similar grammar and syllables and therefore one can deduce that they have a common source. The word 'Navigation' has a similar root in the European counter part. All the cultures developed their own techniques of navigating by looking at the sky. Chinese developed the first magnetic compass. Egyptians and persians also possessed great knowledge of the skies.
Just they word has a similar meaning does not convey anything. Most of the modern radio techniques of navigation were developed by European scientists.[/i]
2. Budhayana first calculated the value of pi, and he explained the concept of what is now known as the Pythagorean Theorem. British scholars have last year (1999) officially published that Budhayan's works dates to the 6th Century, which is long before the European mathematicians.
[i] Ancient Jewish texts dating 1800 BC also gave the approx ratio of the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle. Similar calculations were given by Egyptian and Persian and Chinese scholars too. And there is no calcualation of the Pi, because it is irrational.
Pythagoras was Greecian and he lived in the 500-600 BC approx. He published the Pythogoras theorem and independently, many men from other parts of the world discovered it too. It was known long back before Budhayana explained anything.
These type of claims are being forwarded in the name of patriotism. Being patriotic is onething and lying and telling half truths is entirely an other thing.[/i]
3. Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus came from India. Quadratic Equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th Century.
[i] Now, this is one of the most outrageous lies being spreaded around. It is well known that Calculus was invented indepentenly by Newton and Liebnitz in the Great Britain and Germany respectively. I am also aware of the back-fitting attempts being made by interpreting the Indian texts to suit the purpose.
I am aware of the 'possibility' that Aryabhatta knew about the irrational nature of 'Pi' and this 'possibility' was made possible by vaguely interpreting some text vaguely related to circle and in some forward that will be written as 'Aryabhatta invented Pi before the whole world knew numbers'. This is a shame on those who perpetrate such lies.[/i'
4. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 1053.
5. According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.
[i] I cannot comment on this, as I do not know much about diamonds. But I heard the same thing somewhere else too.[/i]
6. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jagdish Bose and not Marconi.
[i] This is a speculation and Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose was born in the British India, educated in the English way and his academic advisor was John Strutt (Lord Rayleigh-inert gases and etc, if you have studied chemistry well in school). They let him study and encouraged him unlike the higher castes in India who poured molten lead in any Sudra's ear who heard the chanting of Vedas. And he was not a product of ancient Indian culture. He was educated in Calcutta University which was founded during the administration of Lord Canning and then Christ College, Cambridge and London University.[/i]
7. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
[i] Earliest in what sense? Earliest in the North India? South Indian kings have made good progress too. And similar description of 'dams' are found in all the cultures. This is a deceptive half truth.[/i]
8. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones.
[i]This is one of the outrageous lies fabricated and spreaded by the communal elements, unsubstantianted and totally fabricated. Then why do the same people who spread this lie,go somewhere else for medical aid? Why do not the same people use his texts to learn his methods? Why do the same people have to borrow someone else's methods and claim them for their fathers?[/i]
9. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India.
[i]Similar to the above one.[/i]
10. When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
[i] Which Indians are these? Sindhu includes Pakistan too? So, do you give the credit to them too? Does this include South India too? What about the Chaldean and Egyptian and other cultures around the sametime?
Another half truth.[/i]
11. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
12. India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border" Hu Shih (former Chinese Ambassador to USA) If we don't see even a glimpse of that great India in the India that we see today, it clearly means that we are not working up to our potential, and that if we do, we could once again be an ever shining and inspiring country setting a bright path for rest of the world to follow.
[i]Good. The same China is always plotting the down fall of India and we lost our grand father in Indo-Chinese war.[/i]
I wrote all this because, recently there is surge of communal propaganda and lies on the internet. I am grieved at this development. Patriotrism and lying are not the same thing.
So Say PROUDLY - IAM an Indian.
[i]You can say it. I too love my place. But I do not spread lies. I do not want to believe in fabricated stories. If you love India, obey the rules correctly.
Be honest. Do not copy in the exams. Pay your taxes well. Obey the constitution. Do not try to work around the law. Follow the traffic rules. Strive for equality and fraternity. Educate yourself well and work honestly.
The same people who started these lies never obey the law of this nation. They do not love this country. They love themselves and they have their own selfish interests. [/i]
Dear Mr. Sasi Kumar,
Your response has been very generous. I really appreciate the spirit in which you considered it.
Looking forward for more correspondence.
Thank you!
India's contributions to science, technology and crafts are well documented, if not widely known. For example, before the British arrived, Indians had a system of inoculation against smallpox; year-old live smallpox matter was used, and it was very effective. Tikadars would fan out into the country before the smallpox season in the winter. The British doctor J Z Holwell wrote a book in 1767 describing the system and how it was safe. European medicine did not have any treatment against this disease at that time.
The largest reflecting telescope of Asia?
It is in the Kavalur Observatory (India). It is a 93-inch (236cm) reflecting telescope and has been developed indigenously.
While there is praise for the country's progress and its perceived "can-do spirit", some see an India still struggling to break free from its past and warn of the poverty and divisions in society.
India's biggest achievement as an independent modern country is its vibrant political democracy. Its biggest deficit is its inability over six decades to overcome the largest mass of poverty and deprivations in the world.
There's plenty to look forward to. The next 60 years, hopefully, will be better than the last. There is much to celebrate... a change for the better has at last happened after decades of gloom.
India's technology was flourishing before the British. It has been estimated that India's share of world trade in 1800 was about 20 percent (equal to America's share of world trade in 2000). The historian Ruttonjee Wadia says that ships built at Mumbai in its heyday were 'vastly superior to anything built anywhere else in the world.' According to Dharampal, there were 10,000 iron and steel furnaces operating in the eighteenth century India.
India's biggest achievement as an independent modern country is its vibrant political democracy. Its biggest deficit is its inability over six decades to overcome the largest mass of poverty and deprivations in the world.
Are you serious in saying this? I will speak about the current political situation in my state(I am grieved at this situation).
In my state, the political situation reflects the depravity and baseness of the so-called leaders. If you're updated with the news lately, you'd have guessed that my state is Karnataka.
Now, to begin with JD(Secular) entered an unethical agreement with the BJP in 2005, just to stay in power somehow; How can two parties whose ideologies are supposed to be diametrically opposite enter such an agreement and to begin with such an agreement to share the power itself is unethical. This resembles the agreement which toddlers reach if two of them are fighting over something. Now, is the administration of the State such a trivial matter that they can quarrel over it and do anything they want to? Do you really think that such a 'power sharing' agreement ethical?
And then, as per the agreement the JD(S) had to transfer the power. Now, the worst part was the JD(S) refused to abide by the agreement they conferred with the BJP earlier and they said that the BJP was behaving immaturely and was in a haste to take the seat of power and was power-greedy. The then Chief Minister said that they have to work on the terms and conditions to ensure a smooth transfer of the power. Didn't he know that he had to transfer the power? Did this situation arise out of the blue, like a thunderbolt on a sunny morning? Now, who was power-greedy when they reached such an unethical agreement in the first place?
Now, who was being power-greedy when they refused to abide by their own words earlier spoken?
And the JD(S) changed it's stand to and fro to contradicting positions in just 2 weeks. What do you've to say about this?
Ponder this: One fine early morning, this JD(S) Chief Minister's son went to a hotel at 3 AM with his friends and demanded the personnel that food be served. When they refused saying that there was no food and also that it's too late in the night, he and and his friends ransacked the place, picked up a fight with the waiters and went to the nearby police station, lodged a complaint against the hotel personnel. Now, the CM said to leave his son alone as the issue is not a major one and the guy's grandfather, who was a former PM of India, asked to leave him alone as he is a small kid. What do you think abt this? It's no less than a criminal act that deserved atleast 3 months of imprisonment. I say, this is as outrageous and irresponsible and unscrupulous response from the 'leaders'. Guess what!! He walked away free, unconvicted. Also, this particular grand son of the former JD(S) PM has a Porsche, making him one of the two politician families in India who own a Porsche.
And the BJP, they caused traffic jams for nearly 3 days because the Governor refused to invite them to form the government. Are they so inane or so irresponsible or so greedy for power? Not to mention, that the to-be-sworn in Chief Minister, stopped boiled eggs from being served to the poor kids in the mid-day meal scheme, coz some Swamiji whom he consults told him that eggs are non-veg. If he thinks so, then let him not eat them. Why did he stop the little kids from eating eggs?
What about Gujarat? If you by any means try to justify the State government's role in the massacre that happened, then you are unfit to talk abt India's well-being and good.
In Bihar, there are regular reports abt how there are criminal cases against the cabinet ministers, which include molestation and rape besides a lot of other 'regular' crimes.
One estimation says that not even 1 paisa in 1 rupee allocated to the poor by the government reaches the actual intended recipients as the chain in between devours the rest of it.
The government claims 30% of your income as tax plainly and do you know what use does this money find? It's used to buy the politicians cars and buy tickets for their extended families for 'luxury educational trips' abroad, the US being the hottest destination. It's used to buy their teenage sons/grandsons and daughters/grand daughters luxury cars so that they can roam and ransack private restaurants and exempted for any kind of prosecution. It's used to swell their bank account while everything they 'rule' suffers.
Have you ever pondered why the road you travel to work daily has dangerous pot holes? It's coz the money that was supposed to be used to mend it is currently sitting in the bank accounts of all the corrupt 'officials' who are involved, the politician being at the top level in the chain.
Have you ever pondered, why there is so much poverty and illiteracy in this country? It's coz the money that was supposed to be spent on educating them and providing them with basic amenities and food is currently being spent by the leaders' brood on luxuries one can only imagine.
I guess you are well aware of the facts I presented just now coz they are plain and every person who is even least interested in the country' affairs is bound to come across them. What I spoke abt my state, similar things happen in all the states in India.
Do you think this is vibrant and exciting and an achievement that you can be proud of? You might argue that I am just highlighting the wrong things. What I spoke about is a rule, rather than an exception, among the politicians in this country. These things are that they cannot be ignored. If you ignore them, you cannot present a complete and valid picture of the present Indian democracy. If you do not consider them, you are as good as lying while describing the Indian democracy. These leaders are making the country poor and poorer by the day by taking the money that is the poor people's in this country. They are taking the food grains from the poor people's mouth to buy luxury cars and acquire property for themselves and their brood.
Even if 30 paisa in 1 rupee is spent on the intended purpose of the money, India would be a lot better. Still, if you maintain that this is a vibrant democracy and an achivement that you can be proud of, I do not see any scope to reason with you. Thank you!!
How can India's technology flourish before the British when there was no India before 1947?
Do you mean the land which was in the Moghul control? Or the rest of the land which India comprises of now too adds up the India in 1800...? And besides there is an uncertainity on these estimations.
When was this heyday of Mumbai? Though there is evidence that the islands were inhibited since Stone Age, the city was founded by the Portuguese and the British in the Sixteenth Century. In 1661, Mumbai's population was 10000. Mumbai rose to prominence during 1860s in which it became the world's chief cotton trading market. But even well before this in early 1530s the Portuguese appropriated the seven islands from the Bahudur Shah of Gujarat and then later ceded them to Charles II of England. They were leased to the East India Company in 1668. From 1817, the city was developed by them, undertaking civil engineering projects, thereby amalgamating the islands in a seam less network.
Now, the question is: When was this heyday of Mumbai?
It's prominence rose only in the seventeenth century. And to my best knowledge Ruttonjee Wadia talks abt The Bombay Dockyard which was a 'Royal Navy Dockyard', which means that this it was commissioned by the Royal Navy of the Great Britain. They had Royal Navy Dockyards allover the world. One can safely say that it was controlled and sustained by the British. This heyday which Ruttonjee spoke is about the British and Portuguese Bombay. Now, how can you use this to prove India's technical superiority before the British, when the city itself was founded by the colonists?
You cannot use Iron furnaces to prove a point like this. Iron furnaces were everywhere in almost all the cultures even in 2000 BC. Now, please don't say that actually they were Steel factories as in the modern sense. You cannot cite this as a technological development.
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