I thought a lot on what should be the first thing I should write about. Many topics came to my mind but all just passed on like the clouds blown away by the wind. Then I saw a documentary on BBC which showed, what we Indians have given to the world and how we have lost in preserving our own identity in this world. Here are some of the excerpts which I thought I should share..
India is one of the oldest and richest civilizations in the world. It is home to the world’s first planned cities, where every house had its own bathroom and toilet five thousand years ago. The Ancient Indians have not only given us yoga, meditation and complementary medicines, but they have furthered our knowledge of science, maths – and invented Chaturanga, which became the game of chess.
According to Albert Einstein, they “taught us how to count”, as they invented the numbers 1-9 and ‘zero’, without which there would be no computers or digital age. Unfairly we call this system of counting Arabic numbers – a misplaced credit.
Two thousand years ago the Indians pioneered plastic surgery, reconstructing the noses and ears on the faces of people who had been disfigured through punishment or warfare. They performed eye operations such as cataract removal.
In 1790 the Indians defeated the British Army in the battle of Pollilur with a secret invention – the rocket. The pioneer to master this technology was Tipu Sultan. The British eventually stole the idea and used it against Napoleon’s fleet.
Other important invention the Indians have given us is cotton. 3500 years ago whilst we were lumbering around in animal skins and itchy wool they were cultivating a plant and weaving it into a material that would revolutionise Britain. They also pioneered the printing and dyeing of cotton in a staggering array of colours and invented the spinning wheel – something Europe wouldn’t catch up with until the Middle Ages. The mechanisation of this simple device by Hargreaves and Arkwright led to the industrial revolution and turned Britain into a superpower.
In this world of communication we boast of advancement of wireless communication that the west has made \. But the person who introduced this was J.C Bose when he claimed that we could transmit over the air. Unfortunately he was not given the credit at that time.
This just a small contribution that we have given to this world. There are many more. So looking back at our history we should learn from it and give many more inventions to this world rather than just depending on someone else’s inventions and discoveries.
Hope to write something again soon
Nitin
Nitin,
This is such a heart-warming post by you. It does account a lot of innovative ideas that India has brought to the world. But, don’t you think that we have given ourselves away many times? Our greed, our need for recognition and our need to be masters of an art that we wouldn’t want others to master has made us lose out. Simply put, we screwed ourselves.
People have started realizing this now and it is too late to bring back that glory because in our want to be noticed we have given away too much to others. Having said that, we have a lot of potential still. There are innovative minds and there are innovative ideas coming from Indians. But these ideas are formed, formulated and executed in countries other than India. This is the tragedy. India has not been successful in retaining talent. That’s the sad part.
You have brought out nice points. I hope many politicians take notice of this and provide incubation to and nurture talent so that India can flourish again.
Cheers mate.
Thanks mate.. must admit you my inspiration for this..
U pointed it out right.. its our greed that has lead to our downfall. its true we Indians are still contributing but only to lose the credit to someone else.
Lets hope we do get things right..as said u can never change how things end up. can surly make a new beginning
Cheers
Nitin
amazing post!!! I have added you in my blog roll.
Be in touch!!!
-Abhijeet
Politicians are not completely to be blamed. Every individual who blames politicians should be blamed too. I believe its everyone. We just blame but nobody would try to change. That included me too. Everybody gives opinions. There is lot of room for opinions. No room for implementation. Rich’s are united – coz they have money and power. Politicians are united coz they too have power and money. Even poor people are united too (they have less or nothing to loose). The average citizens are never united.. They look for themselves. Its correct somehow.. They are in the middle.
Instead of waiting for politicians to change why cant we change the system? (an opinion). Perhaps we will not — perhaps we are scared, perhaps if tomorrow an average earning citizen raises his voice against the system to make it correct (without having any power) how many average citizens would join that person? I believe few or none.. (perhaps fear of loosing job)
Relating to the innovative minds from india and its execution abroad, I believe somehow its fine. Every individual when they go abroad they have greater responsibility – a) When they go abroad they become the brand ambassador of india (representative from india apart from what job they do). So they have to keep up that reputation
b) After execution of work successfully indians are appreciated so indirectly India is being appreciated
Well Adi, what you said is right, we do represent our country and it does make india proud of what we achieve outside. And yes we should be part of the action rather than the words.
what i wanted to state, you have mentioned. We are scared now, so we dont take any action. Thats what I hope we could change and bring in a better tomorrow
Hey Nitin,, nice write up..Good work.
Everyone (including me) thinks more of Indian system when abroad. Its because, we get embarassed the way it is going now, when some european or US guys points out at it. And when the same thing is pointed out when in India by an Indian, almost nobody cares (except some). And what Adi told is very true.. that we average citizens (majority) are not united to fight for the cause. Interestingly, we citizens will be very united, to fight for our caste/religion.
In my opinion, disrespect to each other among fellow citizens is the cause for lack of Unity among us.
Everyone should respect each other first, thats the first change everyone should bring in within themself (including me)
yes pradeep u are right