The Constant Gardener

Somewhere in the mid-nineties.
I tugged at my Mother's sari from behind and won away her attention from work to ask her,"Mother,that tree by the road that runs by the house,it is so magnificently huge.How many years old is it?Was it always so big and sturdy?"
"No,she was a little sapling once.Innocuously delicate and serene,she was brought here by one swarthy gardener who planted her there whence she grows out today.She was then only slightly taller than you.The gardener lovingly tended her.He watered her gently with a sprinkler,manured her and carefully examined her for any diseased leaf or fruit.He did this for many years continuously.After that,the gardener left and the young tree was left alone to face worldly storms.She was quite prepared though.During the first patch of singeing summer,she extended her roots to the other end of the road.With the onset of the monsoons,a hurricane ripped away one of her canonical branches.The wound healed and she grew a new branch.She was home to a wide variety of animals ,from woodpeckers to sparrows.A poison ivy still lives off her.Many years passed and she grew taller and stronger.The canopy of her leaves became so dense that sun rays could scarcely pierce it,and so you had the most impregnably cool shade even during the hottest of the days."
"What happened to the gardener?Where is he?Is he still around?"
"No,he went on to plant many other saplings here in our neighbourhood."
"All of them are big trees,now,aren't they?"
"Not all of them,really.Some couldn't rise to their fullest height,some were trampled by a cowherd,a few got damaged by harsh gusts of wind and still some were stolen,but,that does not matter,many grew up to become the beautiful trees which line our roads today."
"So,is the tree secretly aware that it was once a puny sapling?"
"I don't know I have never thought of enquiring but I think she is.That is why,perhaps,inspite of being so gigantic and powerful,it is so gently humble,providing incessant shade and shelter to all beneath it."
"Yeah,must be"

I was back at school for the foundation day ceremony.The anecdote above(written in a train compartment) is a little tribute to what my teachers have done for me when I was totally in oblivion of my own education.

My dear Uncle Sam

I can easily trace each one of my posts to a series of passionate ruminations culminating in the sudden spurt of enthusiasm which finally ensures the "publish post" button getting hit.But,quirkily,when I actually write,I have visions of myself in either of two hugely dissimilar scenes.One is the way Yann Martel purportedly wanted to write Life of Pi-sitting in the veranda of a cottage at a hill-station,notes spread out in front of me.The other is one in which I am doing one of those impromptu speeches(guffaws),setting up the Reality Distortion Field.This will be of the second kind.So,listen and don't read.
Growing up watching Hollywood movies and outgrowing pairs and pairs of Levi Strauss jeans;Using Google atleast ten times a day and idolizing Steve Jobs since adolescence;Fed upon a daily diet of WWE and the like and swearing in with the F-word to look cool.Headbanging to rock and metal and boasting a taste for Pizzas and burgers.Social networking on Orkut and Facebook and falling asleep at night with the Great American Dream in the eyes.
Was I talking about some gum-chewing,skateboarding Yankee punk?No,I haven't finished with my description yet.Reading a mag or newspaper once in a while and recklessly censuring the government for corruption,sneering with rage over "brain drain" occasionally and attending the odd Puja so people admire you for "values and traditions" and the most incongruous feature of all-bashing up America,Americanism and dismissing American culture as vacuous and filthy.
I have the pleasure of announcing the emergence of a new archetype-The confused,insecure urban Indian teen.No,I will not waste all my space eulogizing his virtues,I will focus on one particular idiosyncrasy which seizes me with incredulity and anger everytime I think of it.
I agree that an occasional awakening of patriotism is the easiest way to experience a moment full of self-righteousness.But,to go a step further and rubbish the very influence of a culture in the lives that we all love to live is perfidy of a special kind.And I am not talking of the technological and materialistic advances that they give to the whole world as you could easily refute them as a furtherance of business interests alone.
But can you deny the root of global maxims like "follow your heart","Work hard,Party Harder!!".The philosophy of placing merit above anything else.The spirit of adventure and entrepreneurship.Aren't these all essentially American ways of thought?And boy,don't they bring so much meaning to our lives?True,at first,you picture Uncle Sam as this big arrogant bully in whose inevitable shadow,lies the entire world.But are we saying that the US senate's decisions is a microcosm of every American value?Do we ignore the nationwide uproar they had against Vietnam ?Do we ignore initiatives like Live Aid,OneLaptop per Child, and many others,I cant think of,now?
Recently,I had lunch with Cindy Wang,an undergraduate from MIT(she has come here for some summer exchange program ) and we shared our tales of growing up in different cultures.Interestingly,Cindy was born in China and moved to America only when she was thirteen.So,she had quite an experience to share.It was initially weird for her.Said Cindy, between a mouthful of Chana Masala,"They have a lot of fun,you know.They party,drink..but,they are great people and once you are accepted within their community,they treat you like your own".They do,they certainly do.Mustn't there be some thing special about them,which attracts the most brilliant immigrants from around the world and absorbs them into the fabric of their society.I can go on and on professing about our love for American music and American movies.I could write entire posts about the beauty of American literature(from Harriet Beecher Stowe to Hemingway to Salinger,all the way to Palahniuk).But,I fear I might prejudice my arguments with the more personal of tastes.
Believe it or not,USA is easily the most evolved concept of a nation we can ever have.They have come a long way from the abolition of slavery to being the Land of Opportunities.Obviously we are not living in a black and white world.The colours of racism are bound to emerge here and there in this melting pot of cultures.But,certainly they are far more democratic than we people ,who are still bent upon immortalising an age-old meaningless caste system by legalizing reservation. To recognize the happiness,openness and comfort that Uncle Sam has brought to our lives is to turn a blind eye to a universal truth .We love to talk about globalization ,'cause the very moment we take a look at the way the world is moving,we are prone to feel that we are on a higher plane of thought.But before that we must globalize our minds.We must accept the origin of our inspirations and influences not hide in anti-American schools of thought and defend ourselves with much-hackneyed falsehoods.The fastest way to intellectual independence is to see the truth in all its nakedness and to embrace it wholeheartedly.India is motherland but Uncle Sam is one of the fathers of our minds.Let us acknowledge this once.With gratitude.