Daily Fix
Pariah
T. SHER SINGH
Speak to any bureaucrat or politician in any state capital, any government office in the world, and you’ll hear a litany of stories about the bad behaviour of India’s boorish ’diplomats’ that have been let loose on the world.
While warning their citizens to steer away from tourist forays into India and keep their visits down to the only-if-you-have-to level, the world’s capitals are also developing private protocols to deal with Indian government representatives.
Desis returning to India from Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, a few months ago snivelled endlessly over the not-so-subtle slings and arrows shot in their direction by all and sundry. They simply couldn’t understand why.
The latest salvo comes from the BRICS conference held in Durban, South Africa a few days ago.
The slights they had to endure, say the Injuns, are reminiscent of Mohandas Gandhi’s adventures in the land more than a century earlier.
To begin with, the Indian delegation moved heaven and earth to get a private meeting with the South African President. For ‘bilateral talks’, was the excuse.
Well. President Jacob Zuma found time to meet with the Chinese.
And then with the Russians.
But neither the South African President nor his team could spare any time to meet with their Indian counterparts!
Sorry, the official explanation goes, the schedule was simply in a “disarray“.
At one point, on Tuesday, March 26, 2013, a meeting did get arranged between the South Africans and the Injuns, and then … it had to be cancelled. You see, the meeting with the Russians just went on and on … And the Indians were resting in their rooms a couple of hours away.
True, there was also the problem over the billeting assigned to the Indians.
Inexplicably, they had been lodged 40 km out of town from Durban, where all the action was taking place.
The Brazilians got put up, though, in fancy hotels next to the conference site … in the city of Durban itself.
Odd, but so did the Chinese.
And so did the Russians.
You’re right: the Indians weren’t happy campers on those two ominous days. And they went home with long faces.
“Why do they treat us Indians like pariah dogs?” asked one desi delegate as he got off the plane in New Delhi.
“Wait till they come here … we’ll show them!” someone muttered behind him.
Yes, sir. That‘s the Indian school of diplomacy for you!
[No, this is not an April Fools' joke]
April 1, 2013
Conversation about this article
1: Dr Birinder Singh Ahluwalia (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), April 01, 2013, 8:15 PM.
India is being rebuffed even within the BRICS trade patch. As fellow sufferers on the world stage, our (Canadian) PM Mr. Harper and his team have kept Indians busy in trade talks. PM has visited India twice, has had dinner in Punjabi dhabas - it makes a good photo-op, especially when, back home, news of failed trade talks with the EU are an embarrassment. Canada too is being isolated: e.g., exclusion from the Pacific Trade initiative lead by the US, where focus is being shifted towards countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, etc., where not only opportunities are galore but it also helps counterbalance China's growing influence in the region. Here in Canada, as in India, the leadership has been AWOL in every aspect, whether it is trade or foreign policy. The world will simply move on and leave the laggards by the wayside. Like the pariahs on the streets of India.
2: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), April 05, 2013, 3:32 PM.
A pariah dog turned rabid is doubly deadly and no ordinary rules apply to him ... either in how it behaves thereon, or (therefore) in how we should deal with it.