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Unit 13: My Vision for India by APJ Abdul Kalam

The Nation’s Obsession with Foreign Things Notes

Dr.Kalam is surprised at the people’s obsession with foreign things. We want foreign TVs,
foreign shirts, foreign technology. There is an obsession for everything that is imported. According
to Dr.Kalam, self respect comes only with self-reliance.

Conformity in Foreign Countries but Detached in Motherland
In India, we the people blame the government for being inefficient, the laws for being too old,
the municipality for not picking up the garbage etc. But what do we do about it? In Singapore,
you don’t throw cigarette butts on the roads. You wouldn’t dare to speed beyond 55mph in
Washington and tell the traffic cop about your heavy political connections. You wouldn’t spit
paan on the streets of Tokyo. When the same Indian can respect and conform to a foreign
system in other countries, he cannot do that in his own. You will throw papers and cigarettes
on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative
citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India?

The Easy Way Out: Blame it on the System

We sit back wanting the government to do everything for us, while our contribution is totally
negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage
all over the place, nor are we going to stop to pick up a stray piece of paper and throw it in
the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the
proper use of bathrooms. When it comes to social issues like women, dowry, girl child etc.,
we make loud drawing room protestations and do the reverse at home.

And for all these negatives on our part, we blame on the system. The whole system has to
change, we seem to justify. For us, the system consists of everyone else except me and YOU.
When it comes to make a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our
families into a safe cocoon and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along and work miracles for us,
or we leave the country and run away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise
their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences
unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we
demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to
abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system, because our conscience is
mortgaged to money.

Self Assessment

1. Who is ‘I’ in the above passage?

2. State the impact that the invaders had on India.
3. Why have we never invaded other countries?
4. “I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857.” What is Dr. Kalam referring to?
5. What according to Dr. Kalam should Indians protect, nurture and build on?

13.4 Summary

• Dr. APJ Kalam has three goals that he would like India to achieve. All the three goals
are related to each other. Freedom and independence will have real meaning if we
develop economically.

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