Why I’m Going to India

Interesting that you should mention India and Africa. I'm a South African, whose ancestors migrated from India 100+ years ago, and we still maintain some, tenuous cultural ties to India (my car stereo only plays Bollywood music, for example). I have to say, as painful as it is to admit it, that you may have a point about a culture of "ignorance, corruption and generally not giving a shit about others".

A few weeks ago, the South African government was engulfed in scandal when a family that migrated from India in the early 1990's, the Guptas, managed to land a chartered airliner at the country's main air force base for a wedding, by pulling some strings, and get a police escourt for their wedding party. This is a family that is widely suspected of getting rich by gaining state contracts, with less than clean hands-they managed to ingratiate themselves with both the Mbeki and Zuma administrations, despite the fact that most supporters of the former are spurned by the latter. The outcry over their jet adventure was so great that government heads actually began rolling, although it is suspected that President Zuma was behind the order, and is untouchable. It was later revealed that the Guptas managed to re-value their expensive property in Johannesburg, to an absurdly low amount, so they could avoid paying rates (which they could easily afford at a higher level). I gather that this sort of thing is not uncommon in India.

I am not picking on India alone, lest Indian nationalists assume that I am. Pakistanis who migrated from the 1990's on, managed to exploit the South African department of Home Affairs to the point that a South African passport became fairly worthless (this damage is being repaired, but it will be many years before a South African passport is trusted in the first world).

South African Indians, managed to distance themselves from the Guptas and the Pakistanis (more recent immigrants), and are generally well regarded because as a group, we never aligned ourselves with the apartheid regime - and this has resulted in considerable economic success in post-apartheid South Africa. However, when I think about it, we are also quite corrupt. Zuma and his family have been funded by South African Indians - it was just revealed that Zuma's son lives in a home owned by a Durban Indian's family, and there are numerous other examples, including court cases, of Zuma being funded, and corrupted by Indians.

On a personal level, not a week passes without hearing about some acquaintance doing something crooked. Recently, I heard of someone who didn't bother renewing their driving licence, and being involved in a car crash getting a family member to take the blame. I am surprised that South African Indians have managed to maintain a "reality distortion field", and avoided being characterised as a corrupt group, a description that could easily apply to many (not all) of us.

The fact that diverse groups of South Asian immigrants, separated by time and nationality are all corrupt in South Africa indicates that there is a cultural element to this behavior. I hope blind nationalism and defensiveness (something I have noticed when discussing these matters) don't stand in the way of the necessary introspection.

Ah, that makes it ok then. A bit like the mafiosi that give a lot of money to the church on their death bed, it's just a means to an end, so sorry if you're in the way.

Really, Bill Gates has done some good things in recent memory but if you're going to whitewash his crimes because of that then your moral compass is totally out of whack. I'm happy he's chosen to do good later in life rather than to continue on the road that he was on, at the same time I find it impossible to forget how he got to where he is today.

Oh come on, Gates is the least damaging Robber Baron we have ever seen and is the one most likely to produce meaningful impact in the robber baron second philanthropic life.

It's one thing wishing that history had thrown up dedicated public servants who also ran vast software empires, but we play the hand we have been dealt. If we lose net neutrality, privacy, if the Internet is used against us, not for us, it's our fault. We can ensure the train runs on the lines we want.

Sorry not meaning to have a rant, just I think gates has stopped being part of the problem now - there will be another one along, probably worse, and we need to engage. Just frustrated. I respect your posts here normally.

Gates is finding a sample where (India) it is easy to implement solutions (knowledge of understanding, having a support system to solve the problems) and then take them to the larger audience. It is debatable if food & nutrition issue of India or Polio in India is comparable to problems in Mosambique or Brazil.

It seems like the basic problems of food, shelter, hygiene, health and education are basic needs and can be solved in similar ways across the nations without having to depend on govt policies.

I think this is a very sound approach. He should however pick a smaller geographical region than India.

I starts conquest of muslims from 15-16 century , effect of that in society and culture. Then european conquests from 18 century and then british rule for 200 years, first 100 under british east india company and then under queen victoria. India got its freedom in 1947 but for me it was never free. Indian and african countries were not freed to be developed and stand up for themselves. colonizers made sure of it before granting freedom to these countries. As an Indian living in the capital all my life I can say that I dont see the country getting better until everything that is working here is dismantled and fresh new start happens with new models and technology. Which seem like it will take a long and hard time added with a lot of destruction thats already happening to achieve that.