Charge me with blashphemy, but I need to get this syndrome, for lack of a better word, out of my system. Why, and here, its an exclusive Indian trait, are we hopeless cynics? Why are we as a rule , always looking for ulterior motives behind every move, be it in politics, sports, indeed our next door neighbor? Why cant we take things on face value? Period. Alrite, there are wicked motives, yes, I confess that an odd apple might be rotten, but does that, by any stretch of imagination warrant that the whole orchard is spoilt.. For the life of me, there havent been too many instances, when I ve seen people (for all practical purposes, We here means, Us, Most of the Great Indian Educated Middle Class) plainly appreciate some action which is being taken. Its just beyond me. Sonia Gandhi gives up Prime Ministership, and the ramifications of it are just overtly ridiculous to be discussed here. Its almost like we get perverse pleasure, its a case of sour grapes, that we werent the ones to do it first. For Heavens sake, give that lady some credit. Lets even assume that she wants Rahul to be the next prime minister, so is there anything wrong with it. My Mom wants me to be the prime minister some day. Heck. What do we get to hear? Its tactical. Its shrewd. Its politically motivated. Its politically correct. I cant help thinking are we, in more ways than one, showcasing our intellectual competency, or indeed the lack of it, by stooping the standards that we do? And isnt this again a standing example of the infamous Indian Crab mentality. And the damage doesnt stop with the individual. To say that its damaging to the society is to state the obvious. It is here, I am afraid, that the germs of self doubt are sown too, for, we dont dare to such actions, which we fear will come under the same scrutiny. Is it a sort of a last resort to do away with our pent up feelings which lie unchecked within us. Its an exclusive Indian trait to make generalized statements that He is absolutely wrong. Again, for the life of us, dont we have the courtesy to credit people with some sort of intelligence? I feel ashamed of being helpless, not being able to do anything about it. And, lets for a moment think beyond. join the bandwagon, we dont have the competence to question our own behavior, so what do we do? Question others behavior! And intriguingly enough, it is but one of the so many conflicting qualities that we ve come to demonstrate. Its amazing that how we can be hospitable, petty, inscrutable yet so much on the face all at once. till the moment, of course, when we somehow unfailingly manage to put our feet in our mouths. For the life of us, we can afford to keep it simpler by taking things on face value and by giving the benefit of the doubt. I am at a loss for words, so would end right here, half hoping that I ve managed to drive home the point.:) Amen.