i am going to generalize here, and like all generalizations, this post is flawed.
i think, a certain section of us TBs, in conjunctions with other tamils/indians have a jingoistic attitude towards our vedic ancient culture.
we love to look back in time, to the pre islamic india, forgetting that kanishka's capital kanauj was in modern afghanistan, and prior to embracing buddhism, was a believer of gods alien to bharat.
i am constantly reminded of those soviet text books, mostly science texts, released through new century book house in madras, which while useful to the science/engineering students, if one could get through and understand the english, explained the fundamentals of calculus, physics or chemistry, in a cheap and affordable way (in the 60s, 70s).
the only snag, was that, the soviet russians (mind you, not the other soviet nationalities.. and there goes any arguement that soviet union was not racist) had discovered everything before other scientists.
apparently, there was a russian scientist who discovered the laws of gravitation, before newton.
now, our ardent bharatvaasis, are giving those bankrupt soviet scientists a good run for their money .. our ancient hindus have discovered it all.
whether it be guided missiles, or atoms or cell phones or televisions, there are instances in our ancient documents, which could be interpreted as equivalents.
as a fervent hindu, i comply.
as a realistic human, i cringe at these boasts, empty or otherwise, only God knows.. why cannot we be more humble?
though, i still do not understand, why we have such a defensive attitude against supposed ignorance.
do we not know, that the best place to start is from that of an underdog? look at japan or south korea or china? these countries and their outputs, were laughing stock, all over (including india) in my lifetime.
today, they are the terrors of the world, threatening to overwhelm the universe with their products.
the astounding fact, is that during the last public interview, that i know of, the PM of china, claimed that his country was a poor partner, and the world should not judge it by its exports.. but its exports were a means to pull the mass out of poverty..
what he did not say was 'beggar thy u.s., europe or rest of the world'.. the model worked for japan, korea, hong kong, taiwan and singapore.. but china is a giant, which will swallow its benefactors.
thank you.
ps.. atleast, adhering to being a tamil, before i am a hindu, and definitely before a discarded brahmin cloak, i feel enhanced, that the tamil socio political mafia, is intent on literati glory of the sangam age, and does not have any pretensions to mastery iin science.
i can accept this without any reservations, whatsoever.
bhagavaney !! there is sanity, atleast in small doses, in the south eastern corner of india.
