There is a strange irony playing out in full public view, yet many refuse to see it. While the sons and daughters of our political leaders board flights to London, Boston, Singapore and Sydney, to study, the message sent to our local youth standing in dusty classrooms back home is very different. You do not need English, they say. You do not need to look beyond our borders. Everything outside is colonial poison.
You are already the greatest!
That, dear young India, is the most dangerous lie of all.
Progress has never come from shutting windows and drawing curtains. It has always come from learning, questioning, comparing and improving. English is not a betrayal of culture. It is a bridge. A bridge to science, medicine, technology, diplomacy and global conversation. Refusing to cross that bridge does not make you patriotic. It makes you isolated.
The world does not wait for slogans. It rewards skill. It rewards clarity of thought. It rewards those who can speak, write, negotiate and innovate across borders. While you are told to take pride in ancient glory alone, the children of those hypocrites preaching this pride are quietly acquiring global degrees, global exposure and global confidence.
They are being prepared to rule a world you are being discouraged from entering.
There is also another reason dear parents that ignorance is celebrated so loudly. An informed child asks questions. An educated youth demands evidence. A globally exposed citizen does not swallow myths easily.
Superstition thrives best where curiosity is discouraged.
Myths flourish where learning is mocked. And obedience is easiest where ambition has been clipped.
Being proud of one’s roots does not require blindness. Loving your country does not mean refusing to learn from others. Our ancestors were great because they were seekers, not because they were satisfied. They observed the stars, debated philosophy and absorbed ideas from traders and travellers.
When you are told you do not need to better yourself, ask who benefits from that advice.
When you are told English is unnecessary, notice who speaks it fluently behind closed doors. When you are told the world has nothing to teach you, see a defence minister, a finance minister and many, many others quietly sending their children into that very world.
Education is not submission. Exposure is not betrayal. They are your birthright. Learn languages. Travel if you can. Read widely. Question respectfully but firmly. Measure the extravagant claims of the last ten years against facts. Do not let anyone shrink your horizon in the name of pride.
Because the world will not judge you by slogans. It will judge you by competence.
And if you are trained to clap while others learn, you will wake up one day applauding from the back row of history.
Choose learning over noise. Curiosity over comfort. Truth over flattery. Otherwise dear youngsters, the future will arrive speaking a language you were told you never needed to learn…!
The Author conducts an online, eight session Writers and Speakers Course. If you’d like to join, do send a thumbs-up to WhatsApp number 9892572883 or send a message to bobsbanter@gmail.com
