No one is perfect

You know orkut, right? Communities are a popular feature in orkut. From 1984 borns to I-love-to-sleep (!), there are thousands of communities spawning everyday.

So it’s only natural that there are a few hate communities. I’ve been getting mails saying such and such community (India sucks, I hate India etc.) exists and please report as bogus. It’s a way to show patriotism. Some people even discuss it hotly.

Great. If this is a fight, its worth shying away from. One, It’s very easy to start a hate community (one person is enough) but difficult to stop one (50 votes as bogus required to take community off). And there are I-hate-Pakistan communities too, so we don’t hold a moral high ground.

I don’t mind reporting them as bogus, but I wanted to know what they have in their forums. After all, sustaining a hate community is a tough job, isn’t it? How long can you rail a nation with same hatred unless you are a brainwashed terrorist? Some of the owners and members are well educated, so what do they discuss?

Surprisingly, I found a few valid objections. Some posts talks about female feticide, which is a matter of shame. India has an abysmal sex ratio of 931 females per 1000 males, and it is pathetic in modern states of Haryana and Punjab (860/1000). Southern states fare much better, particularly Kerala with a positive sex ratio of 1031 per 1000 males. Contrary to popular belief, Muslims are a more tolerant lot than Sikhs and Hindus when it comes to female feticide, which is shown by sex ratio classification by religion.

Other is about the high incidence of Aids which threatens to harm the productivity of a growing nation in the future if not checked. Low Female literacy finds a mention as well.

The language is reprehensible, but the objections are sound. It’s a totally different picture from what the Indian media gives- burgeoning economy, unstoppable stock market and more recently, a nuclear deal. Bad news never gets the same publicity.

So do I justify these groups? Hardly. Its time we recognize that we are a truly great nation not because of our culture or history; but because we have a working democracy and strong institutions for a place that is so diverse even in mindset. Once we do that, we get the courage to take criticisms, even hate writings in stride. We get the courage to seek harsh truths even in them.

That’s what a mature democracy does- reality check.