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You people are foolish not to visit the US
when you are going as far as Canada, mocked my friend Smitha who
is back in India after a stint in the States.
What! Aren't you going to the US from Canada?
How absurd can you be? said another, aghast at our decision not
to have included a visit to the US, which, according to her was
Heaven itself.
The reactions of a few other well-meaning
friends/relatives who were present at a party (they considered
themselves fortunate to have either lived in the US or been
there on short visits) was no different. They all went gaga over
the system the country had and how meticulously the people
followed it, the clean broad roads, the marvellous buildings,
etc. as evidence to the admiration they had for the country. One
of them even said she found Canada an absolute contrast to the
affluent US and tongue-in-cheek added that she felt "at home"
once she landed in Canada.
Besides all the man-made things you all
mentioned is there anything that stands out in this country that
is absent in other developed countries, I asked wanting to know
whether there was anything special apart from the country's
affluence and the arrogance of its people.
Don't you think affluence will naturally
bring arrogance in its people? said they almost in unison.
That set me thinking and I realized it was a
universal truth. But what made me wonder is, if affluence is a
yardstick for arrogance, why is that the affluent in our country
cannot afford to be arrogant/get away with it in an alien land
like their counterparts who seem to be a privileged lot?
Perhaps affluence should be matched with a
white skin as well, I thought.
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