A few years ago, a play written by Tony Kushner (“Angels in America”, “Munich”), titled “Homebody/Kabul” was staged in America. It tells the tale of a frustrated British housewife, who tries to overcome the monotony that engulfs her everyday life by escaping into her perceptions of Afghanistan, a mystical land which she claims accounted for the ‘dawn of civilization’. Her perceptions of the country are based on travel book, which obviously presents a white-washed picture of the country. 

Though the play was staged after the 9/11 attacks, it was written well before it. Hence, there are no references to the attack, but there are plenty of references to the Taliban. Nevertheless, once the housewife (named ‘Ms. Homebody’) travels to Afghanistan, she disappears. Her husband and daughter, who follow her to Afghanistan in search of her, are shocked to find an Afghanistan completely different from the one their wife had talked to them about. It is a country steeped in poverty and utter misogyny.

Though I have read reviews of the play, it has not been staged anywhere in the vicinity of my country (India), and hence, I haven’t seen it. But I urge anybody lucky enough to be living in America make use of any opportunity you have to see the play (note that I said “lucky enough to be living in America”; an interesting precursor to what I’m about to say), as this play deals with tendency of many people (particularly liberals) to become cynical of their culture, and idealize other cultures in comparison, without understanding all aspects of the other culture they’re talking about.

Cynicism is an attitude which you wouldn’t find among most people in India. Almost all Indians are “proud” of their country, although one-third of its population lives in abject poverty.  Except for in the field of architecture, it has made no particular progress in any other field in the past 2000 years. Though they may claim that they are proud to live in a country which has “preserved” its traditions for thousands of years, the way I see it is, they are proud of the country simply because they were born here. In contrast, there is a minuscule minority (of which I believe I am a part of) which associates the country’s unchanging traditions with cultural stagnation, and is horrified at the state of the economically backward sections in the country, and more so, the apathy of rest of the population and the administration towards them.     

I’ve always insisted that you’ve never seen poverty until you visited a third-world country, and a walk through the roads in my city would be a perfect illustration of this. The sight of famished old and young people incapable of working, begging for a living, mostly ignored and left to die, is very common here. As is the “who cares” attitude towards them. When I also read statistics pointing out that half of the Indian population is uneducated and does not have access to electricity or running water, I conclude that this place has to be hell on earth.

Hence, when I read accounts of people dying to come to what they claim to be the MAGICAL and DAZZLING land of India, I often chuckle.  Such tourists are clearly ignorant of the country’s ground realities. However, there have been people who have actually visited the country, and seen the living conditions here, and STILL love the country. This leaves me thinking. They claim that the country’s art, music and food is rich, and that the country’s  cultural diversity is amazing. Each state in our country has a different language, and a completely different sub-culture, and yet, they come together to form one cohesive unit. Although sectarian conflicts do arise from time to time, India has largely been a model of harmony, and a near-perfect example of how different cultures can live together, while maintaining their separate identities. I am flabbergasted by these accounts, because all these perceptions seem fair to me. Thus, I often wonder whether I have been too harsh with my assessment of my country. Am I overlooking its positive points?

In criticizing the cultural aspects of a country, we often use another culture/country as  contrast.  The country that I often use to contrast with India is *gasp* USA! I admire the highly active liberal community in the U.S.  I also admire the vociferous and unyielding  anti-establishment movement there. As far as India is concerned, no matter HOW immoral the war is, I could never see half of the population opposing a war which  the country is participating, at least not in the next 500 years. When India carried out its nuclear tests about a decade ago, there was almost no opposition to it, and the few dissenting voices were muffled in the festive hysteria. Also, while I am aware that poverty exists in America, the poverty and ghettos featured on and harped-about on shows like Oprah would be considered as ‘paradise’ by some of the poor in India. America has a social security system which, if introduced in India (if it could be afforded in India), could save hundreds of millions of lives from starvation and disease.

And yet I always see many aspects of America being maligned on blogs, TV shows and films by no less than Americans themselves. I have also seen some cases where American citizens have proclaimed it to be the “worst country in the world” and left the country. This often makes me realize how much we tend to take the positive aspects of our country for granted. I realize that, at least I am born in a country where I can choose my own faith, my voice and my opinion. Things could have been a lot worse if I were born somewhere else.

And yet, while I strive to achieve this balance in perspective, I seldom achieve it, with the perceptions of my country constantly leaning towards the negative. I don’t know why this is so, but this is something which dissenters all across the world might want to keep in mind: To be fair towards your country even while criticizing it. I still feel it’s better to be a cynic than a blind patriot, but nothing beats a genuinely balanced perspective. If it’s ever possible to have one.