History

History was boring only when one had to memorize events and dates to reproduce it during an exam. But later I have always loved looking up history. A few blogs have made it even more pleasurable. Have always loved imagining the situation as it was eons ago. Since human emotions have remained pretty same, it is easy to imagine!

Some say it is not good to dwell in the past glory since we forget to move forward. But one cannot and should not ignore history since it can repeat if forgotten. And if there is one history that I want to be repeated, it would be the following:

India was by far the biggest economy at the dawn of AD! followed closely by China.. 

Most of us are recipients of emails which stated this fact in many other ways. Some were taken seriously while others were ignored. A few even called these Indians "nationalists"! Not sure why the love for your country is a bad emotion! Love for your own country can be compared to the love you have for your parents and your home. It does not mean that you hate another set of parents or home. It is just that it is from your home that your identity first shapes up and hence you shall always have a special regard for it.

Anyway coming back to the topic of ancient India, if you look at the map you can see that India is in a very dismal position at the moment. China had the same constraints but look how it is bouncing back?

While China seems to be slowly regaining its lost glory, India seems to have a lot of catching up to do. Even militarily, China is way beyond India.

The main reason being the rampant corruption that is eating into the resources of free India. I am sure most of us don't want a Chinese style of administration but I think the Indian freedom has lost all it's meaning. Right now the only free Indians, enjoying the fruits of India are the politicians and and those who pamper them.

I did not write this to offer solutions but just wanted to remind myself that India had a glorious history but due to the smugness, complacency, and carefree attitude of us Indians the past glory continues to evade us.

Source:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/06/the-economic-history-of-the-last-2-000-years-in-1-little-graph/258676/

Are the tables turning?

This is an old map showing the state of Sanctions a decade ago.



And some of these countries still face sanctions mostly imposed by US and UN.

But now China is threatening to impose sanctions on US companies if they go ahead with their arms sales in Taiwan.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ma Zhaoxu, on Tuesday repeated Beijing's threat to impose sanctions against U.S. companies which sell arms to Taiwan.

"The concerned U.S. companies have ignored China's opposition and insisted on selling weapons to Taiwan. China will impose corresponding sanctions on companies that sell weapons to Taiwan," Ma said told a news conference.

They have also asked Obama not to meet Dalai Lama.

"If the U.S. leader chooses this time to meet the Dalai Lama, that would damage trust and cooperation between our two countries, and how would that help the United States surmount the current economic crisis?" said Zhu.

Isnt there something for India to learn from this?

While India cries and rants that Pakistan is being over equipped and over indulged with monetary handouts that continue to strengthen the militants, did we ever think the way China is thinking? (Not that I am fan of the Chinese Government)

Instead our government gives Padma Bhushan to frauds just because someone claimed that he helped to bring about the nuclear deal. Oh yes, the same deal that will strengthen a whole lot of business houses in India as well as US.

When there is money flowing in and out for a few, our foreign policies and our national awards (not all since I am sure some of them deserve these awards) will also be in tune... those in power will continue to scratch the back of those who are sustaining them. But I am yet again vexed to know that it was our honest PM who selected this person for the award. Has honesty decided to change its meaning in our dictionaries?

Source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35191073/ns/world_news-asiapacific/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/02/AR2007090201436.html
http://www.seattlepi.com/iraq/art/sanctionmap.gif
http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/jan/26/sant-chatwal-grateful-to-india-for-padma-honour.htm