I have seen all kinds of reports about the journeys of Jesus to various parts of the world, including to India - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_years_of_Jesus.

 

Now, England has been added to that list, thanks to a new documentary on Jesus -- http://www.indianexpress.com/news/jesus-may-have-visited-uk/546495/.

 

To quote the first sentence from the report verbatim, "Jesus may have visited Britain and walked the Glastonbury grounds, a new documentary alleges. "

 

I have no issue with it, but why should it be an allegation?  It is not wrong to call it an allegation as the word merely means any assertion that is not supported by evidence. However, a simple and more appropriate word will have been "claim". This may not carry any literary or lexicographic merit as it is only a matter of personal preference -- just as I do not like the word "imminent" (or even "impending") to be used with happy events that are about to happen. I associate the term more with danger.

 

Perhaps, it is okay to say that "Woman Alleges Jesus Went to Hell." I am not cooking this up, this is a claim that was actually made by a woman as you will see here -- http://777denny.wordpress.com/2009/04/18/woman-claims-to-have-visited-hell-with-jesus-30-nights-says-jesus-cried-and-is-warning-people-not-to-go-there-part-1/

 

There may be more Indians teaching English in foreign universities and schools, including in England, than the Chinese. Indians may even be outnumbering the Chinese in terms of the English teaching certifications they may have (such as the IELTS). We all also know that one reason why Indian IT professionals have been more sought after than equally or better qualified Chinese is because they can communicate better in English -- something that also resulted in the call centre boom in the country.

 

But all that is set to change as the Chinese have begun to outsmart the Indians in English language proficiency. India has fallen behind China in the number of people speaking English, according to a report in the BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8365631.stm. I have no reason to doubt the findings as my own experience in multiple Indian cities, including in Delhi and Mumbai, trying to have my way with just English, has been punctuated by helplessness. Maybe it was my fault not to have picked up Hindi during the first 30+ years of my life in India!

 

I must nonetheless admit that I have had more language-related trouble in China than in India. That is fundamentally because the educated lot in India are reasonably comfortable with basic English than their peers in China.

 

Numbers, however, tell a different story. It is believed that only 5% of the Indian population are proficient in English. That is about 50 million people as opposed to 300 million people in China who can speak the language. The data may not be accurate, but there can be no denying that India is losing the edge it had by virtue of the 300 years of British rule in the country.

 

Indian leadership during the post-Independence era has been largely busy building their own coffers and fostering jingoism and populist insularity for their own selfish interests. It is a pity that there are leaders even now resisting the use of English when the rest of the world is leaving the country behind.

 

Singapore is 100% English-literate, but most countries in Asia as well as in Europe and Latin America are still struggling with English. But at least they have begun to see the emergence of English as the lingua franca of the world and are vigorously promoting the language.  

 

I don't see that happening in India although English language institutes have mushroomed trying to capitalize on the outsourcing boom in the country. Pride in our own languages and cultures does not have to prevent us from accepting ground realities and seeing merit in global trends. What does this leave India with? Are we going to lose one more bastion that has yielded good dividends so far for the country?

 

 

 

Some Tamil boat people from Sri Lanka appear to be on track to proving wrong the dictum that "beggars cannot be choosers". Rescued off Indonesian shores by an Australian Customs vessel, these Tamils were vociferous in demanding that they be taken only to Australia. In other words, they did not want to be resettled  in Indonesia but Down Under where refugees are able to get handsome doles. The issue, however, is whether they are refugees escaping from political persecution in their home country or just illegal immigrants who want to strike it rich in a prosperous country through a dubious tactic.

 

They launched a hunger strike and even threatened to blow the vessel up before the Kevin Ruud government budged and offered to locate them in Australia as per the UN convention for refugees. I do not want to jump to conclusions as they could be genuine asylum-seekers. But the strategy they adopted only appeared to show that they were seeking a backdoor entry into an affluent society.

 

It has triggered a debate in Australia on whether the country should continue to be soft towards unskilled people trying to enter their shores through sly means. You can get a taste of public opinion at the following links:

 

 

 

 

Clean up your home first before trying to hunt down terrorists elsewhere. This is the first thought that comes to my mind from the Texas killings by Major Nidal Malik Hasan yesterday. While going to the root of the problem is a healthy way to measure up to any challenge, the U.S. will have done itself a world of good if it had paid greater attention to the threats within.

 

The lesson for the U.S. now is not to waste time trying to fight terror in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran as that approach has only ended up exacerbating the crisis. Get rid of the enemy within first before dreaming of playing a global role. Your days as the superpower are over, accept this reality and start putting your house in order.

 

 

I often find the refrain that "India is shining" too annoying though there is truth in it. The issue I have with any jingoistic euphoria is that India is no match for China in everything aside from freedom of expression and the resulting gibberish. It is too late to play catch-up as well as they are miles ahead.

 

For a nation that is not scarce in natural resources and talent, we could have done a lot better if only our leaders had the vision to think beyond self-aggrandisement in an effort to transform the economy. I find it hard to digest that even now India is doing little to tackle corruption on a warfooting. If anything, that is only worsening if the alleged corruption of unprecedented proportions in the doling out of wireless spectrum is any indication.

 

During my visit to Chennai earlier this week, I found the press covering the issue extensively, with opposition leaders alleging a fraud of more than Rs one lakh crores (I don't have the patience or the mathematical ability to calculate how many hundreds of billions of dollars it translates to!) in the allocation of the spectrum. But nobody seems to be doing anything beyond issuing press statements. That only shows no one is clean in the country, all leaders have some skeletons to hide in their cupboards. So, who can save the country from these rascals?

 

Everytime I visit the country, I am amazed at the development that is happening there. But along with it, I also see the age-old problems of corruption, inefficiency, arrogance, poverty and illiteracy as deeply entrenched as ever. Does anybody care? When we are only busy imagining that we will be the superpower of tomorrow and doing little to rid the nation of its evils, that can only be a dream that will hardly crystallise!