Houston, we have a problem. It's our content, not image

Flashing headlines across the world declaring India as the worldrsquos rape capital is making many of us cringe The government insists itrsquos not all that bad and tourism hasnrsquot got hit but industry says there is a 25 per cent drop in foreign tourist traffic and au00a035 per cent drop in female travelers coming to IndiaSome hotels think that complementary spa treatment for women would increase female tourist traffic Errhellipmaybe a panic button in the room is more realistic The media is being blamed for lsquooverhighlightingrsquo the pathetic law and order situation in the country which is negatively impacting Indiarsquos image But the image can only reflect reality If the image seems ugly itrsquos because the reality isnrsquot very prettyhelliphasnrsquot been for a long time The world and most of us got carried away with the India that was surging Our shiny airports smooth as silk flyovers flashy multi cuisine restaurants wifi and telephony We really had come far from the days of booking lsquotrunk callsrsquo and a waiting period for two wheeler scooters which stretched from seven to ten years Long way to go Large tracts of our country are so underdeveloped that it seems hopeless It was round about then that a young Prime Minister made some speeches about technology missions about bringing computers into the country about being a leader among nations in the 21st century Many ridiculed him as being naiumlve at best and foolish at worst When we had no drinking water no schools in thousands of our villages we were not self sufficient in food grain production our urban areas had pathetic infrastructure he was talking of leading India into the 21st century and improving its image He didnrsquot live to see that Indiarsquos emergence as an economic power Some of us who were in school and college in the eighties when Rajiv Gandhi made those speeches were not as cynical as our elders we did hope that he might be right When his son Rahul Gandhi made his CII speech last week I reacted with the same cynicism as those who were cynical of his father in the eighties I was just as irritated when he said that a lot needs to be changed and that one man cannot change it Unfortunately he was speaking to an audience hungry for a leader and in the absence of such hope his message fell flat Hell yeah I am the cynical Indian who has gotten used to computer generated bills making online travel reservations choice of 100 news channels but then lsquoye dil maange morersquo And frankly itrsquos not wrong to expect that lsquomorersquo Because really that should have happened a long time ago along with the flyovers and the video coaches and the private airline boom We should not have 3 crore cases pending in our courts We should not have been ranked 56th out of 86 countries for gender equality According to government statistics half of the countryrsquos children are chronically malnourished The child sex ratio has slipped from 945 to 927 girls for every 1000 boys 626 million Indians donrsquot have access to closed toilets and defecate in the open Large tracts of our country are so under developed that it seems hopeless This weekend in many cities and towns people watched IPL matches but if you were living in Ranchi or any other city in Bihar or Jharkhand you would have faced a 48 hour bandh called by Naxals The rest of the country is not bothered that you couldnrsquot reach your coaching centre tourists couldnrsquot visit monuments and patients couldnrsquot reach hospitals It makes one wonder is India marching ahead or slipping But this is reality and no amount of image floss can hide that This isnrsquot something that is going to embellish Indiarsquos image Itrsquos the content which needs to change How can Indians be then ridiculed for hoping that somebody will come on a horse camel elephant or a bull to change things No really hope is eternal and donrsquot take that away from us Even if it is a mirage to console oneself in these turbulent times Smita Prakash is Editor News at Asian News International You can follow her on twitter smitaprakashu00a0