Indian Obsession

Pick up any Indian newspaper or surf through any Indian news channel and you will likely see a shot of Sunita Williams-the astronaut who just went into space. Most probably the article or news item will rave about her and rightly so, for she is a most talented woman. But for once get your facts straight people, she ain't Indian. She's as Indian as peanut butter and jelly.

I mean what the hell is this Indian obsession with using every possible excuse however small and making an Indian connection out of it. Lakshmi Mittal-Indian even though he doesn't have a single steel plant in India. Sunita Williams- Indian via one distant Indian ancestor. Indra Nooyi-Indian because she was born in Chennai. Sant Singh Chatwal-Indian because he sells Tandoori Chicken in his restaurants. And it goes on and on and on...

This has actually begun to remind me of the cold war days when the USSR claimed that every single thing was invented by the Soviets. I think they even claimed Shakespeare's plays at one time!

I mean people what the hell is your problem. India has enough home-grown success stories. We have the Murthys, the Manmohan Singhs, the Tendulkars and a million other praise worthy citizens to look up to....does a country of a billion talented people need to artificially create icons.

Pathetic!

Why do we dream?

This is something that has been bothering me for a while so I put it out for my more learned friends. I have been searching for a explanation and somehow in all the neuro-psychological gibberish that medical journals spew out, I haven't been able to find a simple answer.

And why do some of us dream in black and white and some in full color. Do we hear or feel auditory stimuli when we dream? Do animals dream? And what do they dream about? Do dogs dream about chasing cats and juicy bones? Do insects dream? And finally the biggest question of all, do blind people dream? And what do they "see"? Do fetuses dream?

The word "dream" is also probably the most overused word there is. For example Martin Luther King's I have a dream speech. I dream of Jeannie. Its my dream. Dream job. Dream vacation. You're dreaming! Day dreaming. Dream-team.