There are umpteen examples that will come to mind if one thinks hard enough on how many times we were apathetic/insensitive/ignorant towards actions/things/polls/news that would highlight our sense of pride of being an Indian. By 'we', I refer to we as a nation and not just an individual.
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The one that i'm going to writing of is the internet poll being conducted by New 7 Wonders Foundation to choose the 'New 7 Wonders of the World'. Yahoo says ---> The contest, aimed at raising global awareness about the world's shared cultural heritage, was set up by a Swiss filmmaker, curator and traveller Bernard Weber, following the destruction of Afghanistan's giant Buddha statues at Bamyan by the Taliban in 2001.
The Poll is on at the NW7 website "NW7 Vote" since I can't remember when. May be an year or so since i first heard of it? Yep....Here is a piece of news dated 2nd Jan'06 on BBC News -- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4574336.stm . The declaration was first to be made on 1st Jan'07 but now the new date is 07/07/2007. Its real apt with all the 7's thrown in and that surely looks like the reason for postponing the ceremony. Go ahead and vote. You can also vote by sending the word 'TAJ' on SMS to 4567.
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More than year down the line and with just a month left for the deadline, 45 million people have voted so far worldwide. Guess what? The Taj has made it to the list of top 10 monuments but the final leg of the journey seems arduous. Surprised? Cause in the game that's purely based on numbers, the votes received for every monument, a country with 1 billion people is shamefully ignorant of the poll and hence not voting enough. Even the ones who have voted have been predominantly the non-resident Indian tribes!
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Is the fact that it is an Internet poll and we have low Internet penetration that is the reason for less votes? Maybe. But that's surely not THE reason. The reason is apathy towards anything of national significance except the Indo-Pak cricket fixtures! Be it the government who hasn't highlighted and publicised the significance of the poll or the people who in spite of knowing aren't voting cause one has to go over a process that takes 10 precious minutes. I might still forgive the aam-aadmi for not knowing cause they don't know of it!!
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The Ministry of Tourism for once had a task clearly cut out for showcasing the Indian wonder worldwide but it chooses to completely ignore it. And that in spite of the Ministry surely sitting on a pile of moolah that isn't going anywhere. The "Incredible India" campaign that was started about the same time this poll was announced could have been the perfect vehicle for sending the message to the masses. Where are the banners, ads in news prints, ads on T.V???? Wonder how many Babu's in the Ministry or for that matter even the Ministers themselves know of this poll? So much for doing a ones job!!
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Had the masses been made aware, at least half of the junta if not all, SMS'ing for the stupid sas-bahu show's, KBC or the Indian Idol kinds shows, would have voted. And knowing the masses, I'm sure my guess of 50% of the crowd voting is probably far fetched. Most would change the channel had an ad about the Poll been playing. A lot would just say what difference does it make? Then a few others would say -- "Hamare Taj ko famous hone ke liye kisi videshi list me aane ki zaroorat nahi!".
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We no more stand for the National Anthem let alone singing it with pride. We merely consider Independence Day and Republic Days as holidays. We do not go out to vote during elections anymore. We pay taxes but take all the bad roads, water shortage, electricity cuts, red tape without a protest. We take vacations to international locations but know little of our own country. We drool over the international city scape shown in movies but do not think once before littering our own neighbourhood. Sab chalta hai, right?
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