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| 13 January 2007
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| Egalitarianism is a utopian dream in India
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So it might be, but is it true for the rest of the world too?
Does a utopian society exist anywhere? Is there any country/city in the whole mother earth where the spirit of kalyug hasnt touched upon? Is there any community which believes in happiness by sharing and caring, and loves to be loved? Is there any region, where inspite of diversification, there is unity? Where crime rate is ZERO and police stations empty? Is there any city where the sun rises in the east and sets in the west? Is there any place where honesty and generosity is the applied policy? Is there an area where people are more willing to help than to be helped? Where when the sun shines in full bloom the people come out on the streets? Where when it rains it rains like the mother nature is crying with joy? Does this utopian society exist anywhere?
If yes, where could it be? Certainly not in the US, where the president himself admits having an affair with his secretary, where niggers are still fighting for equal rights, where the residents are so ignorant? Could it be in any arab country? Certainly not, women rights are inexistential.
Could it be in China? I dont think so - firstly coz they are communists and secondly coz they dont have the rights to freedom and thirdly coz their society is so much like our indians'. Where else?
I will not claim about the rest of the world coz i havent been there. But i can write about this little city i lived in for around 11 weeks. 'Rennes' as it is named is in Northern France, to the west of Paris, takes about 2 hours and 25-50 euros one way (depending on various factors which i consider irrelevant for the moment), capital of Bretagne (or Britanny). It is, coincidentally, also the smallest city in the world to have a metro (i would cite the reference but it would mean another 15 minutes of googling).
Now you would be wondering what makes me choose a little city from the whole world. It is, purely coincidentally, the place where i did my internship. I choose to call this relationship purely coincidental because I fell in love with this place, not because it was my alma mater for the 11 weeks, but because of the reasons listed below.
1. Crime Rate - It has a crime rate of absolutely zero. That means no crime at all. No thefts, no burglary, no murders, no rapes (and thts really good), no kidnapping, no extortion..... no nothing. One can leave his jacket on the bus stop in the morning and come back in the evening to find it still there (I tried that).
2. Generosity - Saying "Bonjour" in the morning and "Bonsoir" in the evening, as done in whole of france, is one thing, it doesnt sum up to generosity, neither does saying "Bon appetit" before each meal. What really matters is that when you are standing in the line of the mess deciding what should you pick and what should you leave, the person behind you gives you a big smile and helps you out. What matters is that when you are on your first day to office and you dont know the way, a cyclist gets down from his cycle and walks 2 kms with you, asks a couple of other people too, and escorts you to your office before getting up on his cycle again. What matters is that when you are confused in the bus as to where you should get down to go to the 'Beradarie', a fellow passenges senses your discomfort, gets down with you, and walks you to that place. All this without even asking for. Similarly i tried to reciprocate but i guess my indian instincts held me back.
3. Honesty - Honesty is not just about being truthful, even though if it was Rennes would still top the list. Honesty is about sincerity, about keeping promises, about trusting the other person to be honest. And its all over there.
If ever there was a heaven on Earth, it would be RennesLabels: europe, kindness, travel |
posted by Rohit Agarwal
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| 1 Comments: |
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mustve been an experince to have been in a utopian society.. just a concern that my feminist biases force me to raise.. quoting you" no rapes (i dunno tht is gud or bad)"
well if an engineer from IIT cant figure it out no wonder delhi is the rape capital of India and the judicial system is probably still scratching its head about whether it is a crime at all...
you will have to forgive my acerbic remarks but i found your idea of, was it humor, particularly offensive
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mustve been an experince to have been in a utopian society.. just a concern that my feminist biases force me to raise.. quoting you" no rapes (i dunno tht is gud or bad)"
well if an engineer from IIT cant figure it out no wonder delhi is the rape capital of India and the judicial system is probably still scratching its head about whether it is a crime at all...
you will have to forgive my acerbic remarks but i found your idea of, was it humor, particularly offensive