indian at heart

This morning I was asked what I thought of the movie Slumdog Millionaire. I was asked this by someone who was not Indian and seemed genuinely interested in my answer it was a fair and unbiased question as any. My answer — I thought it was great, a story well told, a well-made film. That however was all it was. I heard many comments living away from India and surrounded by different nationalities. Many ‘oh my Gosh that’s outrageous’. I will never go to India or Bombay. However, those people don’t react the same when they see a Hollywood film based in Harlem, no one does. And at the same time Americans don’t have to hate the movie as many of our Indians who seemed to feel the country was being portrayed in a negative light. Why couldn’t it just be what it was? A movie about something somewhere- plain and simple. I realise India is a complex country, given the title of being ‘third world’ it is even more complicated for many around the world to get it. The weirdest part is, it is also a country with the second largest population in the world. Apart from that there are Indians in every part of the world. I kid you not, whether you’re in a suburb or a city, in every nook and corner, you will find an Indian there. So can you imagine just how many of us there are? I know we have many faces, many religions, many thoughts, principals and ways of life that we want to hold on to, to keep our identity Indian. One identity is boring, I love that we are filled with so many colours and differences with only a certain sensibility that we all possess, and is indescribable to anyone who hasn’t experienced it first hand.