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Truth Knows No Direction

 

Often when we are confronted with a fact, our simple reaction to the fact—or lack thereof—can tell us a lot about ourselves. Typical reactions to atypical facts are of particular interest, and the main focus of this article. Can our reactions to certain facts tell us something about our own security as a people?

 

I list four cases as an introduction to this piece.

 

Case 1- The “Yes, it’s true, refer ‘western’ source” syndrome.

I came across a documentary on the BBC where a mathematician stated that the decimal numbers in common use today (0-9) —that we know as Arabic numbers—in fact, originated from ancient India. Apparently the decimal numbers moved from ancient India to ancient Arabia because they served as a powerful tool for efficient business.

 

The mathematician went on to say that Arabic numbers are sometimes referred to—and should really be (if you want to be accurate)—referred to as Indian numbers.  At the time, I was mildly amused to learn about this common misconception. I always knew that the concept of the zero originated in India, but this was something new. It was some time later, in the course of a conversation with a cousin, that I mentioned this interesting fact about the ‘number misnomer.’ My cousin, to my unpleasant surprise, reacted quite strongly. His response was along the lines of, “I don’t believe all this. I get all these emails about how ‘India is this’ ‘Indians are that.’ How come we never learnt about all that in our high school History?” At that point, I had to mention that I didn’t learn about this in some random chain mail but saw it in a seemingly professional documentary. I also mentioned that the mathematician—who was the host of the documentary— particularly mentioned, that most scholars were not aware of this truth. He stressed that it would most likely be a mathematician who would be aware, and perhaps even interested, in this apparent misnomer.

 

My cousin was not willing to listen to any of this and a pointless discussion ensued. At some point, I had to qualify my arguments by making needless remarks about how ‘it was a program on the BBC’ and how it wasn’t just some propaganda. I don’t think my cousin believed me in the end but I do know that my mention of the BBC was met with silence. And, I also know that my cousin would not have reacted as strongly, if the initial fact itself—of the misconception—had nothing to do with India.

 

What I realize today, is that a simple statement was met with a negative reaction and essentially changed to course of an entire conversation. I also realized that there would have been no hope in sharing that knowledge, if the documentary itself, was made by an Indian.

 

Case 2 - The “Even my ‘western friend’ swears by it.” syndrome.

For five days I suffered from what I thought were sinus symptoms. I finally got to visit my doctor and my doctor was not convinced that my symptoms were characteristic of a typical sinus problem. He said every individual is different and this could still be a sinus, but he wanted to be safe and rule out any other possibility. The topic about my doctors’ visit and his diagnosis came up in a conversation. A friend, out of concern for my health, enquired about my symptoms. After hearing about my symptoms, I expected my friend to give me a remedy, maybe describe a treatment that might work. Instead, she starts off with various success stories about her suggested treatment, and how even her American friends swear by it and “thank” her for introducing her to the treatment. It turns out that her treatment was quite simply a yoga technique. I can only imagine that her mention of a yoga treatment for sinus was met with much skepticism by fellow Indians over the years. It was perhaps this skepticism that prompted her apparent justification or validation by Americans. It was simply a defensive move on her part, to avoid any negative reactions from a potentially hostile Indian audience.

I’m sure she wouldn’t have been as defensive if she was suggesting an allopathic tablet that worked well for her. Or, as apprehensive, if she suggested the same Yoga technique to one of her non Indian friends.

 

Case 3 -  The defensive reaction—“Don’t criticize my perfect India oh ‘western friend’”

I came across a blog entry by an American traveler while on his journey through India. The American mentioned something about how he had a miserable experience traveling on a shoe string budget. This American traveler mentioned the poor sanitary conditions on trains and at railway stations. The unhygienic or dirty conditions that is present in a lot of cities and so on.  His post was met with a bunch of posts by fuming Indians. The responses basically made excuses for the miserable conditions he faced, feeble justifications for why those conditions may have been present, or just plain denial about the sad truth—that our country has a lot of cleaning up to do.

Why is it that we make so many excuses, and get so defensive, when anyone dares to point out some basic truths about our country?

 

Case 4 - The “’Indian’ doing great things abroad syndrome”

A second generation Indian-American, who most definitely identifies himself as an American and has shown no apparent interest in his Indian roots, makes headlines in India for contesting an election in his American home town.

There are numerous cases similar to this in India’s national newspapers almost every other week.

 

 

These are not the only cases that one may notice in our society today, unfortunately, there are plenty more. If there is one common theme to all these cases, it is that they stem from a basic insecurity. We are so insecure about ourselves and our identity that we are constantly on the defensive and constantly seeking validation from the west or anyone non Indian. You can substitute the word ‘western’ in this entire article with the term ‘non Indian’ and the entire article could still be relevant.

 

Our constant sense of insecurity is our biggest enemy. I recall a thought shared by an author who had recently become a parent. He mentioned something to this effect, “As children we live our lives constantly seeking the validation of our parents…” He went on to talk about how that viewpoint changed once he had kids. I think about that statement as I wonder why we should be so confused and insecure about our identity as a people. Why do we constantly seek validation, from the west or otherwise?

 

I wonder why it has become fashionable for our rational thinkers to discredit and completely disregard our ancient texts of wisdom, our history, our identity, in the name of modern science and reason?  Why is it that our intelligent, rational thinkers—gain great pleasure in glorifying modern science and criticizing our ancient texts—and are quite often clueless about both? And why do the few, who might have a sound knowledge and respect for modern science and ancient wisdom. The few who know that the two can well coexist; have to be defensive about holding such a view?

 

The parent-child analogy makes me wonder if it’s perhaps because we are a new nation. I think maybe it is because we only just got our independence and the collective conscience of our nation is trying to find her self and rediscover her self once more. But this cannot be true, and if that is the reason, then this should change. If we are a new nation, we are also an ancient civilization. Let us remind ourselves about this truth and seek validation no more. Let us remind ourselves about our ancient history, learn from it and take as many positives from our history as we can. And let us do as we have always done—provide the world with knowledge and wisdom. Provide the world with answers the we might need, or answers we might seek.

 

Look not to the west for validation, oh India….Don’t look east either. Let us, instead, seek answers, as we always have—in our process of constant reinvention—for thousands of years.

 

Acknowledgements:

The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewer(s) for their comments and suggestions.

 

Silent Change, August 15, 2007