More Indians than ever before

Mumbaikars shopping in Dadar. India has overtaken China as the world’s most populous country, according to UN population estimates. India now has a population of 1,425,775,850, surpassing China for the first time. Pic/Ashish Raje

I was as appalled as some of our ministers who tweeted their outrage when a German magazine recently published a cartoon mocking our population. It happened the week we surpassed China, and the cartoon in question reportedly showed a train swamped with passengers inside and out. As anyone familiar with India knows, our trains are nothing like that exaggerated image. They are among the most comfortable, relaxed modes of transport in the world, and the notion that we have no space is ridiculous. In fact, I can't recall the last time I saw a crowded train in our country, so I was glad our ministers attacked that magazine for propagating a lie.

A part of me realised that those tweets made us seem like a touchy bunch of people, of course, because foreigners would wonder why our politicians had nothing better to do than attack cartoonists. However, I believe I understood why they needed to do this.

Here's my theory: I'm pretty sure a lot of countries have been nervous about what a world with more Indians will look like, and the sooner they understand that we are merely obsessed with everyone getting to know us better, the calmer they will be. Give us some positive pats on the head, talk about how we have such amazing cuisines or something, and we will curl over and purr. It really is that simple.

This is also why I was happy with that new statistic about our becoming the world's most populous nation. It made me realise what an immense opportunity it offered us to change the way everyoneelse functions. If there are more Indians than anyone else on the planet, it stands to reason that we may soon be able to set the standards for everyone else to follow, beginning with our legendary approach to the truth. Everyone knows we are honest to a fault. We look at our country and recognise that it is almost flawless, which is something the world outside has refused to do for a while. This is one of the first things we can address and change when we are a majority.

Look at what the world outside says when it mentions India these days. They speak of fascism, or of how democracy is allegedly shrinking. They mention non-issues like our eroding judicial institutions or how our freedom of the press rankings are falling. There is a constant stream of negativity, and not a word about the great stuff we're doing. There is no mention of our Vande Bharat trains, for instance, that run almost five minutes faster than our earlier trains that were essentially useless. This sort of constant criticism doesn't reflect the reality of our lives, and more of us pushing back on such accusations can boost our profile significantly in the years to come.

When there are more of us, it will also be easier for us to share our best attributes with other nationalities: such as our love of cleanliness whenever we go, our smoothly-functioning bureaucracy, our aptitude for editing history textbooks, and the skill with which we rename streets, buildings, and airports every decade or so. It's hard to imagine the world not being able to appreciate these qualities once they understand their benefits.

Maybe the government should spend a little more time and energy tracking other offensive cartoons, and sending strongly worded tweets about how these are racist and radically at odds with who we are. Our ministers have always been vocal, after all, which is why we have never experienced situations where a foreign power has taken over parts of our land and renamed villages or towns. This is the sort of belligerence the world needs to know, too.

It's important to remember that we have never been the kind of nation that belittles or subjugates smaller groups of people. We are not insecure. When we are a majority, we will behave with grace and equanimity, safe in the knowledge that we are not under any threat, always happy to accommodate people with alternative points of view. It has been one of our greatest strengths for centuries, and one of the reasons why the world should welcome our larger numbers with happiness rather than wariness.

Finally, if a foreign country has doubts about what a world with more Indians will be like, they can ask a representative of our minority communities. Haven't we felt safer here over the past decade than at any other time in our history?

When he isn't ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira
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The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.