How to make the right connections

I recently stumbled upon an interview featuring a common man somewhere in a Tier2 city You know the sort one of those middleaged uncles who always has the time to express an opinion whenever therersquos a young journalist with a microphone around The uncle in question was being asked questions about how he rated the government on multiple fronts To no onersquos surprise he declared that life in India has never been better According to him this is the first time in the countryrsquos history ever since the British were asked to leave that it feels like wersquore all living in a golden ageThe video made me happy of course because I share that sentiment when it comes to acknowledging how amazing the government is I was also pleased to hear that man talk about how countries around the world now treat India with newfound respect He explained how countries that have never taken India seriously before now go out of their way to bow down before our intellectual and cultural superiority It made me cry proud patriotic tearsIt was admittedly hard for me to find videos sharing that sentiment when they werenrsquot being made by uncles living in India These days when it comes to discussions of Indians on social media respect is often in short supply What I tend to find a lot more easily is anger or disgust accompanied by footage of my countrymen shouting in quiet places dancing suggestively at heritage sites or being accused of theft I donrsquot take these instances seriously though because I still believe that India is fast becoming one of the worldrsquos most respected countries despite what residents of those countries may say onlineI believe the reason for this respect stems from the governmentrsquos innate knack of choosing the right allies Back in the day when we were governed by people who didnrsquot come with degrees in Entire Political Science India and Indians were treated with disdain Now thanks to the countries and leaders we publicly align ourselves with the world has been compelled to applaud our collective intelligenceTake our relationship with the United States for example Once upon a time no American leader would bother paying much attention to this corner of the Third World Today despite the US Senate recently passing legislation that may allow the imposition of tariffs of up to 100 per cent on India itrsquos hard not to acknowledge the warmth with which Donald Trump mentions our honourable Prime Minister Indian businesses may suffer there may be more job cuts in some sectors and some analysts have estimated losses of over 30 billion in exports but no one can say that our leaders arenrsquot being treated with respect which counts for a lot more than just economic healthThen therersquos that other great ally Israel The country has been sanctioned by the European Union United Kingdom Canada and Norway among other nations It has also been accused of committing genocide against the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip by several countries but none of that has affected Indiarsquos relationship with what is effectively a global pariah In fact Indian companies have now been identified as manufacturers of weapons components to the Israeli military which is another sign that our leaders probably know something the rest of the world doesnrsquotSome biased observers may think of this as foolhardiness mdash this seemingly deliberate cozying up to immoral criminals and dictators one of whom has an arrest warrant issued by the international criminal court for committing war crimes What these naiumlve critics fail to understand is the intelligence with which the government of India operates in these testing times It may no longer have jobs to offer its youth but today Indian businessmen are being protected in all kinds of ways and that is a genuine reason to celebrate In fact if it werenrsquot for this fine line between sucking up and foreign policy a prominent Indian billionaire would probably be in trouble for bribery and fraud in the US Our billionaires are safe and that is the true definition of successCountries that choose the wrong partners often end up in bad places I believe we ought to applaud the government of Indiarsquos choices and try seeing the bigger picture that drives its decisions India may have allies that everyone else loves to hate but if it were making such a mess of foreign policy why would we be the envy of the world todayWhen he isnrsquot ranting about all things Mumbai Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet He can be contacted at wwwlindsaypereiracomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper