CHINESE NOODLES....

"just Chinese..", said the oblique eyed boy, a 'Chinki' that our grossly racist minds would generously label him, even as he otherwise wiped the table clean of some obstinately stuck cabbage.
"just Chinese?" i asked dejected, falsely blaming him for my 'stomachular' miseries.this was the third restaurant we had been to, and the third that had refused to serve anything other than cussed Chinese.
of course my profanity knew no bounds.
"OK then," I replied with a chesty haughtiness. "We wont eat anything.."
i did not even wait for the others to get up,jumping like an electrified baboon and storming out of that modest shack; in the process spilling water on that hapless follow, causing his oblique eyes to almost vanish in the process.
i had reason to be annoyed. china was on the rise..
the insipid reply had hurt my nationalism just as much as my nobility. China was everywhere. They had expanded their army, booted out the Dalai Lama, and were manhandling America like we could only dream of. Worse, there economy was swelling like our population, and they had had managed to land the ferrari right at their doorsteps.
vroom! vroom!
of course i was annoyed.
where were we, i wondered?
our country, it seemed to me was going nowhere. we had fallen way behind in what had become a two horse race, our borders were shrinking like ozone, and we did not even have Mazda. worse, the best i had was maruti.
sob. sob.
the famed games had just begun. we had spent an obscene amount of money on them, and our facilities were just as good. there were leaky roofs, dengue infested villages, squalid roads and gun yielding terrorists. our ministers had been busy chewing notes and making lousy statements about games being conducted about.err.. on time. we had eaten up a huge share of the budget pie, and almost everyone had thrown in the towel. (Manmohan Singh almost threw in his turban, but was restrained by Soniaji)
in contrast, the Chinese games were a model of efficiency. things were put in place years ago, when Lalit Modi still roamed the streets and Rajni fever had not gripped the country. they created everything at breakneck speed, and put on a show that awed and inspired as much as it scared and intimidated. the world went lady gaga, and we; well we went nowhere..
So, had i been born in the wrong country? Would i have been better off blessed with oblique eyes, saluting the liberation army, watching the Olympics, perhaps even driving a Ferrari???
Before my worldly desires almost defeated my patriotism, I chose to digress. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.
for the uninitated, china is not a democracy, like its much defamed neighbour(that would be us), which is seen as a major reason for its blistering rate of development.now that would be a good thing, right? hold your horses.. while the presence of democracy may sometimes prove to be a hindrance, its complete absence would certainly hamper progress. Democracy is like that only dress you have to wear. you may not like it, but then you can't be naked can you?
China does not allow its people to speak. its press is banned from voicing an opinion, and anything that is critical of the government is seen as a threat to the country. imagine that in a country like India, where everything from sachin's shots to Priyanka's shorts, from Kalmadi's remarks to the countries terrorism, from pink laces to white , is discussed and dissected with the skill of a surgeon, cut open and splattered for all to see. the press is relentless in its thrashing, whipping up steam to criticize and ridicule just as much as to appreciate. our politicians promote facebook, whereas the Chinese ban it. Google is like nuclear bombs, and their is a grimace on everyone's face that suggest a heavy welt in their umm..rear. Recently one of their kind, Liu Xiaobo won the noble peace prize for his unrelenting campaigning for human rights in his country. China on their part, was quick to criticize Norway for their dismissive attitude, and probably beat the above stated man in sheer frustration. he may not have felt much though. last heard, he had been in jail for 11 years.
11 holy years.
think about it, if we of all people did not have human rights, where would we be? we would not be able to pick apart the government, hurl shoes at them, fight over babri, cry over Mumbai, debate over chocolate fudge and a kitkat shake, etc,etc..
the problems would be endless. there would be no order. we would be mere puppets. controlled true, but barely alive..
NOW WHO WOULD WANT THAT. I CERTAINLY WONT . NOT EVEN IN EXCHANGE FOR A FERRARI.
PERHAPS IT IS GOOD THAT I AM HERE. PERHAPS WE WERE ALL MEANT TO BE BORN IN THIS CHAOS, IN SO DIRE NEED OF A CHANGE. PERHAPS THERE IS AN ORDER IN THIS RANDOMNESS THAT NEEDS TO BE SPOTTED.IF ONLY WE COULD.
so there i was, cribbing about the fallacies of our system, when i realized how fortunate i indeed was. immediately, i ran back to the shack that i had bolted out of not so long ago, and grabbed hold of the hapless chinki, his eyes open once again...
"where is that soup of yours? and that noodles?" i shouted at him. "give them to me, i will have it all!!"
as i gulped it all down, i felt its viscous warmth trickle down my insides, burn the anger within, and gently soothe the heart.
Chinese? maybe.. but not without a bit of Indian spice...
and as far as the fudge vs kitkat is concerned, the fudge always wins. hands down..