The Interview

By Shravani Shetty

I was having a conversation with an interviewer about my thoughts and my writings in my new book.

"Hello sir, I am Veer. It is a pleasure having you on our show."

"It's also a pleasure for me Veer. I am looking forward to the fun we'll be having in our conversation now."

"Sir I am a really big fan of you, I mean I have read many of your books and I genuinely feel that your writings teach many things to this generation."

"Oh it's really a pleasure of having a conversation with a fan. Thank you for having me here Veer."

"Sir, would you mind answering this question of mine?"

"Yes, you may ask anything."

"Ok sir, I mean you are very knowledgeable, so are you planning to go abroad for writing more Books with greater thoughts and a new environment."

"Veer, even if I go abroad ....you will not find me writing about anything else but the beauty of my mother land, so why should I even put my effort to go to a foreign country when I know that I am not going to change anything in my writing style or in my thoughts."

"But sir, India is a developing country and you can do much better in developed countries like America and England. I think you should be publishing your books more about them as they are ahead of us."

"Veer, answer this question of mine. Your age must be around nineteen or twenty and you might be well educated, so if I ask you to consider some rich people as your parents who know nothing about your needs or about you and I ask you to leave your parents who have taken care of you till now. What will you choose?"

"Sir what kind of a question is this? Of course I won't leave my parents and go to those strangers."

"Exactly Veer, then how do you expect me to leave my mother land who took care of me till now and go to those foreign which wasn't even bothered about my existence till today, I don't know why we Indians are so crazy behind foreigners and foreign countries. The craze of eating with a fork and knife, the craze of dressing like them, the craze of having that American or British accent and of course what you mentioned 'the craze of studying or working in foreign countries'. I personally feel that my country is greatest of all, the manuscripts that belong to this country are now kept as a showpiece in the museum of abroad countries, check if you don’t believe me. I am very proud of this generation of India that it finally realised this fact and is proud of its culture. Still the craze of going to a foreign country for business or living will never change. See no offense, you can glorify those countries and their culture but it never gives you the right to put your country and culture down. Veer, you might think why I said this, right? I said it because as an Indian I can confirm that my country is not developing but it was developed way long back. But the only problem was that we Indians had changed our mind set from protecting our culture to copying the countries that colonized India. We Indians are different than others. We were categorised into different cultures, tradition, language, caste...we all are different but we know that we came from the same origin. We were divided by invaders but United by this mother land. My country has the most beautiful civilization, where else can I find it? There are so many geniuses that are coming forward who can change this country completely. The spice and deliciousness in food, where else will I find it? Even the smallest component of matter and substance was discovered by an Indian. Plastic and eye surgery….discovered by Indians. The architecture on temples built thousands of years ago, where else will I find such old and beautiful flawless carvings?

Every country has its speciality, but when you compare your mother land with those countries then obviously those countries don't stand a chance. In the end I would say that I would stay in my country rather than going to countries like England."

"Thank you sir for opening my eyes and for conveying this beautiful message to me and to the audience. I never thought of learning much about my own civilization and I guess that is where I went wrong. You are right Sir, our country is the greatest of all."

“I am glad that you now understood my perspective towards my nation. Again, a big thank you for having me here on the show Veer, it was a really fun conversation, I enjoyed this conversation to the fullest.”

By Shravani Shetty