(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
[superpower] What is the most erroneous myth about India? I asked a friend, who happens to have a few drops of Indian blood in him. "India must be a nation of peace. That's just nonsense. There are tons of examples of the opposite – nuclear weapons, the wars against Pakistan, the assassination of heads of state and so on. " "It is not possible to write it," I replied, which is true. India is Gandhi. Dot. "Up to you. But that is the truth. " As if there is any argument.
If an Indian had asked me about Norway, I would probably have answered the same: Norway is not a nation of peace. Nation states are predators that bite when they are injured and threatened. This applies to little Norway. And that applies to big India. But we all need to be self-fulfilling prophets for ourselves. Myths can obscure, but they can also show the way: Is it not better, after all, that a billion Indians think they are – and will be – peaceful, tolerant and spiritual rather than the opposite?
No, we believe the writer and diplomat Pavan K. Varma, who is currently director of the Nehru Center in London. In his latest debate book, bestseller Being Indian, he has set out to settle the myths of India. And everything is wrong, in short. Indians are also violent, racist, corrupt, selfish and materialistic. Lift up a myth, turn it around, and below you will find the Indian reality. It's tempting to call this one
the spade for a realpolitical war hero, but it is after all a legitimate intellectual sport of their own. And Varma has a matter well hidden in all his undiplomatic speech. There are few negative myths about this ancient civilization (they went to Pakistan); India is spicy food, colorful gods, sensual women and pluralistic tolerance. India is hunger strike and meditation and newly tuned sitars. India is too harmless to pose a threat to anyone. Therefore, Samuel P. Huntington hardly counts on Hinduism in his grand theory of civil conflict. A few years ago, Henry Kissinger struck the superpowers of the future; US, Europe, Russia, Japan, China, "and maybe India". Maybe?
Why is nobody taking Indians seriously? Varma asks. There are more people with higher education in India than there are residents in France, and the Indian middle class is twice the size of the American. The Indian diaspora is the largest in the world after the Chinese. 30 percent of doctors in the United States are of Indian origin. Indians dominate in companies such as IBM, Microsoft and NASA. Software exports are moving toward $ 50 billion annually. 40 percent of the world's 500 largest companies have added vital parts of their operations to India. India is already a decisive force in the world and should have held a permanent place in the UN Security Council for a long time. Varma has no doubt that India will be the foremost superpower of the 21st century, but it requires the notion of what it means to be an Indian to be updated, nationally and internationally. We can agree with that, but we hope my friend and Pavan K. Varma are wrong when it comes to war and peace and stuff. We have less good experiences with heinous super powers. It might be ok to try a peaceful one, who also understands food culture. India has better conditions than most. If not in reality, at least in the myths.
