If India is to attract some of the attention the East now pays to China, it must acquire a bold and inspiring persona, and show a dogged desire to build up its “presence”
What’s it about a nation that impresses others most, raises its profile, and makes it a household name among peoples far and wide? Simply, its present “presence,” not its past eminence, the wonder it once was, or the greatness of its culture that has borne it through the ages. And “presence” isn’t just a matter of economic might and political clout, but of traits much more deep and fundamental: seriousness of purpose, boldness of vision, determination to achieve, a sense of direction, and a commitment to excel in whatever one does. These are the things that determine a nation’s character and the degree of its acceptability in the global community, not the strength of its gross domestic product (GDP) alone.
Is it, therefore, surprising that China should enjoy greater popularity in the world, especially among its neighbours in Asia, than India? Today, China is not only a dominant economic power, but also a nation engaged in a massive and unprecedented battle to rewrite its future, whose footprints of excellence are in evidence simultaneously across a wide spectrum of activities.
It has built the largest river dam in the world, the longest sea-bridge, the highest railway, spectacular pieces of post-modern architecture. It has changed old cities, laid new ones, speeded up roads and railways. It’s dynamic, forward-looking, always improving on the old and exploring the new. It has wowed the world with the grand Beijing Olympics, the grander Shanghai Expo, and now the Chinese athletes have made a clean sweep of the Asian Games with a tally of 199 gold medals, 119 silvers and 98 bronzes.
These are the things that influence people and win friends. That’s how a nation endears itself to others and becomes, in matters of commercial relationships, a preferred ally. That’s how China has come to be accepted, like Japan before it, in a part of Asia that also happens to share its values and work ethics. India isn’t in that league, yet, and, therefore, simply looking east won’t make it automatically more acceptable in that part of Asia.
Besides, for a long time, we had a wrong kind of Indians – the petty-trader-and-plantation-worker type – representing us in Asia. In the Philippines, for example, Indians were known as five-six loan sharks (collecting six pesos for every five pesos lent). Among common Thais, Indians still represent an untrustworthy stereotype because of their money-lending past. In Singapore and Malaysia, they were jagas, or watchmen, guarding office buildings or opening doors at hotels. The new Indians – managers or IT professionals – employed by foreign companies in many of these countries today, are too back-of-the-scene to count in the popularity game.
Yes, there’s Bollywood, and, now and again, Indian classical dance and music events arranged by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. Sure, there’s Indian cuisine, too, and, increasingly, Indian tourists flocking to Bangkok, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur. But these things don’t build charisma. They neither capture popular attention nor grab newspaper headlines. The popular Asian image of India remains that of a strange, myriad-headed sloth, an odd mix of filthy affluence, shallow glamour, and widespread poverty, unfocussed, secretive, and enigmatic, a society torn by caste and religious conflicts, full of inefficiencies and contradictions, a country suspicious of its neighbours, with a mind that’s open and shut at the same time, inclined, as if habitually, to raise objections and create obstacles where there should be none.
That has to change first if India is to improve its stock in the Asian east, or anywhere, for that matter. It can’t expect to rival China, though, simply because Beijing joined the game much earlier than us. By 2015, for example, all major cities in Southeast Asia will be linked by four- to six-lane highways to China, bringing the two even closer together. The link is the result of China’s deep involvement with the Asian Development Bank in promoting economic cooperation in the Greater Mekong sub-region, a fellowship that, clearly, will entrench its already pre-eminent position of advantage in the area. If we want the East to divert to us some of the attention it now pays China, we must improve our image as a nation, acquire a bold and inspiring persona, and show a dogged desire to build up our “presence” and charisma.
Our Forbes billionaires mean little when half our population lives in direst poverty. Being the world’s largest democracy is no good when caste wars, racial hatreds, and religious bigotries remain as fractious as ever. A strong GDP sounds hollow when cities remain grubby and chaotic while villages are submerged in darkness. One Chandrayaan makes no difference when hospitals for the masses are like pigsties, schools are in shambles, and the infrastructure is pitiable. This isn’t the kind of a nation that others will be awed or wowed by, or will willingly want to court.
