Tuesday, March 18, 2008

is it worth holding an indian passport?

It looks as if you are better off if you are citizen of some other country. Its really an handicap being a citizen of india and holding an indian passport, i landed in singapore and the immigration refused to give me a transit visa since i was an indian citizen with indian passport. I wanted that visa so that i can roam around the city and kill time. i had the next connecting flight 8hrs later and all i could do was sit around for a few minutes before i noticed singapore tourism booth which offered bus rides on condition that you surrender your passport. Land in the middle east and you are treated as junk, the airport officials are rarely helpful and dont give you proper directions, on the contrary they yell at you for no reason, even if you are standing to get clearance for transit visa...an arab is given higher preference compared to you. I also saw many indians working hard to earn something to send some money back home so that their folks get a good life. Its a real shame that India talks of getting the global edge and is moving towards being a global power. Its light years away to taking that position. From being one of the earliest of the civilizations, its has let go that leading edge. If one looks at the united states, they always stand behind their citizens where-ever they are, they are looked after so well that any harm to its citizens keeps US on the move and they will get them out ... no matter what. Now lets shift to our own position. In malaysia, when our own citizens asked for a backing, india kept mum ... i dont know for what reason, now look at Sarabjit Singh case where india is not even making any effort to save someone who suffered just for his country's well being. if Sarabjit is a spy then he took that path to serve the country and undergoing the pain and suffering. It is really ungrateful on india's part in not doing anything to repay anything, They dont even treat his parents well when they go to seek audience with the govt officials. Now do u think after this incident and many more like these..anyone will actually have the same nationalism and bonding? It took kashmir singh so much time to get out of the jail and he was given media attention for a day or so and he is nowhere on the news. Countless people have so much love and respect for the country but its not getting translated into anything worth. All the people over there come out in droves to have glimpse of our movie stars, they have so much admiration for cricket stars but have no respect and admiration for these unsung heroes. Its a real shame that being an indian citizen means nothing at all, the country doesnt even send commandos to rescue these folks stranded in a foreign country, they dont do a thing to save this guy who loved his country so much that he took the job of a spy. I dont know how those govt officials and minsters can have a night's sleep when that person is rotting in the jail facing all those humiliations and seeing his imminent death. Indian govt gives out a call to all NRI's to take up positions in DRDO and help build cutting edge technology? so i am asking this question to the reader of this blog .... "is it anything at all being an indian citizen and holding an indian passport?"

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