The ABCD Syndrome

I guess ABCD syndrome strikes everyone. On a second thought maybe it should be abroad instead of America to generalise the scenario. And, it is definitely not limited to the NRIs. I should add by the look of it that it is the desi born people who are more prone to it. Wonder how and why? Well I’m not too sure about both of them right now, it being just my first trip abroad.

I spent my complete week trying to adjust to the cultural shock I received. The irony of it, it is because of my fellow country men rather than foreigners. There was I, luckily with no symptoms of jet lag, raring to go, eager to drink in the beauty of fall, marvelling the colours of nature, the chillness of the wind, the friendly nature of the people, and then I receive my first shock. While I am still recovering from the blow I receive my second. And by the time I could face the third, I am seriously contemplating going back home.

I am in no hurry to reveal my cultural shocks. They are at the same time serious and funny. It is indeed highly amusing to see people grapple with identity crisis…no offence meant.

I know that to be in Rome, we have to be Roman. But does that mean that we change to such an extent that we are losing our identity? Just imagine being stuck forever at the crossroads… the phoney accents, the false pretences of superiority, the foolish belittling of your origins….the list is endless…One would wonder at the extent people go to disown their true identity.

Ever tried eating pakoda with a fork and knife???....lemme tell you, it is comical. I never realised it till I saw someone try it. That person had a helluva job trying to eat it unconventionally. No wonder he must be cursing that it is always easier to eat steak with a fork and knife. I guess by now, you would get that this so called genius is an abcd. This was just the starters. During my four and half months stay abroad I encountered many such things. It still amazes me, how people try to ape someone to gain acceptance. I did meet another classical ABCD for whom anything from his country was considered cheap. He would strut around with an air of such conceited arrogance that it took a toll on my patience limits. You see, I had this urge to punch his daylights out whenever he belittled my motherland, which by chance happens to be his too.

If these people were a class in themselves, no offence meant, then there were these new groupies who had come down abroad for the first time like me. To them everything about the west was picture perfect. These were the ones who bragged about the host nations till their voices were hoarse. I think they suffered from short term memory loss. Scathing as I may sound, it was indeed bad to see these people behave like long lost puppies waiting eagerly for scarps. It miraculously seemed to escape them that they were at the end of the day Indians. It did remind me of the tale of the blue jackal which I remember reading long long ago. At times it was down right funny and at times gut wrenching to see them make a fool of themselves.

All that I saw and experienced abroad, made me do some serious contemplation. What is so bad about being Indian that they are quite a many of them who would gladly disown their identity? Is being a citizen of the largest democracy in the world such a bad sin? Does it count to nothing that there are fields where we are the front runners and trail blazers? How is it that a civilization which withstood thousands of invasions plundering it for wealth and prosperity suddenly loose its sheen?

When at one point where I was overwhelmed by the emotion it invoked, I came to realise that come what may, for every one hundred who choose to alienate themselves from their identity, there are ten thousand others who gladly wear it on their sleeves and will not flinch in saying that they are Indians. For those few pathetic souls who do not realise what they lost, there are many more enlightened ones who revel in their identity and making waves where ever they go. Being there, and seeing my country for the first time in a completely different light made me realise, how blessed I was to be part of this great land. The variety it offers, the diverse cultures, the splendid heritage, nothing can beat my India. What if a few ABCDs fail to realise the splendour of being distinctly Indian? It is their misfortune and not mine. Come heaven or hell there will never be another India for me, nor another identity, coz for me “ East or West, India is the BEST “