A glorious past, a vibrant present and a promising future.
The Past
Indus Valley Civilisation, with well planned cities, existed around 3,000-1,500 BC – India, thus, is one of the oldest continuing civilisations of the world.
Sanskrit language – developed around 8th century BC – pure, metric, musical, grammatical, and unambiguous .
Sushruta (8th century BC) used surgical instruments and sutures, and described rhinoplasty and operations for cataract.
Mahabharata – written around 4th – 1st century BC – with 100,000 – 150,000 couplets in different versions, is the longest epic ever written in any language in the world .
Ancient Indians had measures of time from the smallest krati (1/34,000th of a second) to the largest kalpa (4.3 billion years).
Numbers 1-9 (wrongly called Arabic numerals), zero, decimal system and place value of numbers - all originated in India.
Aryabhatta (2nd century AD) described that the earth is round, rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun.
Bhaskaracharya (5th century AD) calculated the time taken by the earth to revolve around the sun as 365 days.
Ancient India at various stages included present India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tazakistan.
Persians, Greeks, Scythians (Shakas), Bactrians, Parthians, Kushanas, Sassanians, Huns, Arabs, Turks, Mongols and Mughals invaded India but India infinitely absorbed them all like an ocean - numerous religions which came to India led it to become a secular nation.
Unlike the earlier invaders, who had assimilated themselves into the Indian nation and became a part of it, the British remained aloof from the Indian people; they were, therefore, not accepted and had to leave.
After attaining independence from the British in 1947, Indians were magnanimous enough to request the last British Viceroy - Lord Mountbatten – to continue as the first Governor General of independent India.
Mahatma Gandhi – the apostle of peace - Martin Luther King, Lech Walesa, Aung San Suu Kyi who followed his principles and peaceful methods of protest, went on to receive Nobel Peace Prize - was not even considered for it.
The Present
A sovereign, socialist, democratic, secular* republic – a conglomerate of several ethnic, linguistic, social, cultural and religious groups – ‘unity in diversity’.
*Though several religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainsim and Sikhism originated in India, it is today a secular (and not Hindu, as some may believe) country.
Hinduism has no single God (cf. Jesus, Allah), no single founder (cf. Christ, Mohammed) or no single holy book (cf. Bible, Qoran). Hinduism is not a religion – it is dharma (Sanskrit = duty) - in fact, a philosophy, a way of life.
Seventh largest country (3.3 million sq km; coastline of 7,600 km) in the world.
Second largest population (next only to China) of more than 1 billion – 82% Hindus, 12% Muslims (there are more Muslims in India than in any other country except Indonesia) and 6% others (Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, etc).
Largest democracy – multi-party parliamentary with universal adult franchise.
Largest English-speaking country .
India today has its own satellites (chandrayan - orbiting around the moon), missiles, super computers and nuclear programme.
Indian economy is booming, yet stable.
India today is the global hub of information technology and one of the favoured destinations for the BPOs .
Taj Mahal at Agra is the most beautiful building in the world in which no one ever lived.
The dome of Gol Gumbad at Bijapur is second only to that at the Vatican in size .
Indian movies – with their song and dance sequences - have become a global attraction.
Kumbha mela – held every 12 years – with 70 million (more than the populations of London, Beijing, Chicago, Paris, Rio and Teheran put together) pilgrims, is the largest temporary gathering of humans anywhere in the world.
Endowed with 4 weathers in the year, India offers the Himalayas, the beaches and the deserts, a rich cultural heritage and a long history to the tourist.
Indian diaspora and non-resident Indians (NRIs) all over the world – the Swaraj Pauls, Laxmi Mittals, Amartya Sens, Indra Nooyis, Bobby Jindals and the Mohammad Relas - are doing exceedingly well in business, administartion, politics and medicine.
According to Merril Lynch – there are about 200,000 millionaires of Indian origin in USA – median income of non-resident Indians (NRIs) in USA is $ 60,000 (cf. national average of $ 40,000). .
The Future
With more than a billion population, fast changing from being an unbearbale burden to a potential human resource, India is poised to become a political and financial superpower in this millennium.
It is impossible not to be astonished by and attracted to India..