We love to laugh at the nouveau riche and the silly way in which they flaunt their baubles: driving up in a flashy red sports car, wiping themselves with branded toilet paper, wearing ice-cubes on their chunky fingers, and most depressing of all, dropping names like so much dandruff. Sure they may have arrived but they can't stop jingling their moneybags and getting the world to take notice.
India, on the road to being a global power, seems to be suffering from this disease. The most tiresome symptom being the unthinking way in which we appropriate any achiever with even the most tenuous connection to the motherland as Indian. It makes us feel better, bigger, first-world and truly global. There is not so much as a prickle of shamefacedness at the fact that India has done little to further their careers or their talents. In the last couple of years, at regular intervals, the media has been choking with reports about "Indians such as Bobby Jindal, Norah Jones, Sanjaya Malakar, Sunita Williams, etc who have all done the country proud in the USA or in space. Indian schoolchildren light diyas (lamps) or fast, villages and towns in remote corners of India distribute sweets, dance in joy, and the cameras chase the drivers, aunties, uncles and village postmen for sound bytes, all because the son or a daughter of a former resident who quit the country fifty years ago has achieved a modicum of success thousands of kilometers away.
But, at some point, reality bites. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal's father, Amar Jindal, left Maler Kotla in Punjab for the United States almost 40 years ago and settled in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Bobby Jindal, 36, has never visited his ancestral home and has no plans to. Nora Jones who grew up in Texas with a white mother said after winning the Grammy that if anything, she felt more Texan than New Yorker (India did not figure). In fact, Geethali Norah Jones Shankar dropped the first and last extensions of her name when she turned 16. Sanjaya Malakar, the American Idol contestant whose father was an Indian, thanked his maternal Italian grandfather in his interviews. Sunita Williams was born in the USA to an Indian father (who became an American) and a mother of Slovenian heritage (the Slovenian press reproduced articles about how India was trying to appropriate their daughter of the soil).
Historian Ramachandra Guha says he is revolted by this craven desire of Indians to shine in reflected glory. There is something lopsided and imbalanced in all of this, he says. It is nothing but pathetic insecurity and an inferiority complex. I blame the rudderless trans-national middle class for such hype. In Delhi, Professor Mushirul Hassan, the vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia endorses Guha's view that this is nothing but the urge of a middle-class keen to join the rat race to prove itself. It is a way of saying we have arrived. An expression of new-found confidence. And when there not enough persons in India, you look outside, he says.
Equus CEO and advertising professional Suhel Seth calls it a reverse globalisation. India is very territorial in its emotions. We want to capture territories overseas. For us Indians, the grass is not only greener but sweeter outside India. We have shifting sands of respect and shifting sands of recognition. We seek role models from outside India and appropriate them even when they are not comfortable. Take Amarnath Bose (of Bose Electronics). I don't think he wants to be called an Indian.
There is certainly something surreal about the whole hysteria, agrees Sunil Khilnani, professor and director of South Asian Studies, Johns Hopkins University, and the author of the acclaimed The Idea of India. This is not a healthy sign our admiration and adulation for the overseas success of whomever we can claim (however tenuously) our own: its perhaps quaint, but also self-delusional, he says. We should perhaps think harder, focus more closely, on the many millions of those whom we condemn to failure, who really are our 'own' fellow, though far from equal, citizens.
What really grates is that much greater achievement within the country goes unnoticed or is downplayed. But once the West gives its seal of approval, the drum roll just won't stop. “Indian scientists who were ignored in India suddenly get talked about if they get recognised abroad. Even Mother Teresa became Indian only after she got the Nobel. We are a land of hypocrites. R K Pachauri suddenly shot to fame only after he got the Nobel Peace Prize. Till then very few would even give him appointment. And now suddenly he has become an Indian scientist, says Seth.
Prof Hassan adds that success is always seen as suspect: We don't recognise the worth of person who has achieved something or done something worthwhile. We attribute it to tikdam (machinations). We don't think that it could be an intrinsic part of the person or hard work that has contributed to his/her success. When I go abroad, people talk about how Indian scholars, historians are making great advances. But here we don't talk about them. We are in awe of someone who has studied in Cambridge but the moment you say you have studied in India, the interest wanes. This is an inferiority complex.
Guha blames the media for feeding this kind of false pride. The media should not be so obsequious about the West, he says. A few years ago, a magazine said that they did not put Vishwanathan Anand on the cover because he came second in the world championship. Bismillah Khan's death and even M S Subbulakshmis death were covered sparsely. Sunita Williams got ten times that coverage in the media. If great artistes like Bismillah Khan or M S had died in France, there would be half-hour programmes every day for a week if not more. Look at the way they covered Pavarotti's death. And here in India we cover our national heroes death while reading out what the President of India has said about him or her. But Bobby Jindal wins the governorship of a small state in the US and he gets excessive coverage.
Congress MP Milind Deora says that before celebrating the success of Indians abroad their Indianness needs to be verified. Take the example of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Austria celebrates his success and that is genuine because he was born there and grew up in Austria before migrating to the USA, says Deora. We celebrate these achievements because we have a certain affinity for them. The affinity is not derived from citizenship or from accent. America is full of immigrants but one does not find Europe celebrating each and every success of an American who is of European descent.
Another Indian who only has nasty things to say about India is V S Naipaul, who was born in Trinidad and lives in England. India counts Naipaul amongst its Nobel winners. Naipaul, who hates to be asked what he considers home says, I refuse to answer that question one more time, he snapped at Crosswords in Mumbai has this to say about the three countries he is associated with. India is unwashed, Trinidad is unlearned and England is morally bankrupt. The criticism is evenly handed out but perhaps we should reflect on what the Indian achievers across the pond think of the country before we roll out the red carpet and smother them in it.
Most Addictive Games
Very rarely will a teenager that comes in to a treatment facility for excessive videogame use be there because he just can’t get enough of a puzzle videogame. They may have spent some time on the game, and maybe even an above average amount of time on a puzzle game. But, rarely will they have reached the level of “addiction” usage. This is because puzzle games do not lend themselves to those types of gaming habits. Thus, it becomes necessary for parents to become familiar with the different types of games available to their children, and most importantly, those games that have the most potential to become addictive. The following is a list of the current types of video games available to children today. The game types are listed in order of least (1) addictive to most (7) addictive types.
1) Educational - Games that are found only on the systems built specifically for learning. Unfortunately these systems are currently all designed for younger children. Examples of these educational systems are Leapster and Pixter.
2) Party Games are games designed to get people together playing lots of fast-paced mini-games one after another. Each party game can contain up to 150 mini-games in which everyone in the same room has a controller and plays the mini-game at the same time. Each mini-game lasts about 2 minutes. Games in this category would include Mario Party, and Shrek Party Blast.
3) Physical - The latest addition to videogames is the advent of the physical games in which the player’s physical movements move the character on the screen. In a baseball game, the player swings the remote. When this happens, the character on the screen swings the bat. These games currently are the newest and hottest thing around, hopefully pointing toward greater physical health of gamers in the long run. Games in this category include Wii Sports and the Bigs.
4) Puzzle – These games are typically abstract games of logic with no theme or characters. They can be games in which you must line up blocks or games in which you solve math problems. These games are simple to learn, and simple to play. They usually hit the broadest age demographics. Examples of puzzle games include Tetris, Brain Age, and Bejeweled.
5) Racing – These are simply games in which one player races one or more other racers to the finish line. They come in a variety of race types and courses, but in general it is always a race to the finish. The draw in these types of games is making your car better every time you win, or unlocking new cars and tracks as you win. Examples of this type of game are Need for Speed and Mario Kart.
6) Sports games are any game that is a sport in real life. There are even professional (NBA) and college (NCAA) level games of some of the major American Sports (basketball and football). Some people play this for a one-time fun game, and other people like to create a player or team and take them through an entire season, improving their player along the way.
7) Fighting - The vast majority of these games are one fighter versus another fighter. The draw here is the brutality of the fighting, and the learning of fighting moves. These games often take a lot of playing in order to master all of the moves of a given fighter. Yet again, an argument could be made for saying it takes strategy and planning to know which moves to use when.
8) Platformer - These games are action oriented logic games with a main character. They usually involve a simple story line in which the hero of the story must complete each level by jumping from platform to platform, jumping on or shooting the bad guy. These games are rarely violent or gory. Most of the time, the main character and levels are more akin to a cartoonish, Looney Toons look and feel. Some levels are tricky to get to the end and take some trial and error to complete, thus the logic comes into play. Examples of these types of games are Super Mario and Crash Bandicoot.
9) Third person action - These games are similar to the platformer in almost every way, accept they have a more mature theme. Whereas in the platformer, the hero is a cartoon, in the third-person action game, the hero is an realistic looking action star. These games are usually in realistic settings, with more realistic violence, and much harder logic puzzles. Examples of this type of game include Splinter Cell and Tomb Raider.
10) Role-Playing Games (RPG’s) - These games are very similar to the MMORPG’s listed below accept these games are usually designed for only one player, and they have an ending. Depending on how you play the game, the ending is often different. The more you play, the deeper you get into the story, and the more powers your character gains. Examples of this type of game are Final Fantasy and Knights of the Old Republic.
11) Real-time strategy - Games that are basically a fast paced chess game without the turn-taking component. In these games, you are responsible for controlling and commanding an army you have built from scratch. You must face off with whomever you opponent is and try to be the last man standing. Examples of these games include Starcraft and Command and Conquer.
12) First Person Shooters (FPS) - These are games where you are the hero. All you can see on the screen is your gun directly in front of you. bad guys attack you, and you must shoot them. These games are all about the guns. Throughout the games, you get bigger and better guns and must kill bigger and “badder” enemies, adding a very addicting macho (power) factor to the games. Recently, a lot of these games have taken more historical spins, allowing you to be a soldier in Vietnam or WWII. Examples of these games include Halo and Call of Duty.
13) Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG). These are epic games with an everlasting storyline. These games do not have an ending. They are designed to play forever. MMORPG’s are usually played with thousands of other players online at the same time, adding a highly addictive social component to the game. Lastly, these games are designed so that the more you play, the more powerful and well respected you are by everyone playing. Examples of this type of game are Everquest, and the infamous World of Warcraft.
Source- http://www.aspeneducationgroup.com/gameaddiction/most_addictive_games.asp
1) Educational - Games that are found only on the systems built specifically for learning. Unfortunately these systems are currently all designed for younger children. Examples of these educational systems are Leapster and Pixter.
2) Party Games are games designed to get people together playing lots of fast-paced mini-games one after another. Each party game can contain up to 150 mini-games in which everyone in the same room has a controller and plays the mini-game at the same time. Each mini-game lasts about 2 minutes. Games in this category would include Mario Party, and Shrek Party Blast.
3) Physical - The latest addition to videogames is the advent of the physical games in which the player’s physical movements move the character on the screen. In a baseball game, the player swings the remote. When this happens, the character on the screen swings the bat. These games currently are the newest and hottest thing around, hopefully pointing toward greater physical health of gamers in the long run. Games in this category include Wii Sports and the Bigs.
4) Puzzle – These games are typically abstract games of logic with no theme or characters. They can be games in which you must line up blocks or games in which you solve math problems. These games are simple to learn, and simple to play. They usually hit the broadest age demographics. Examples of puzzle games include Tetris, Brain Age, and Bejeweled.
5) Racing – These are simply games in which one player races one or more other racers to the finish line. They come in a variety of race types and courses, but in general it is always a race to the finish. The draw in these types of games is making your car better every time you win, or unlocking new cars and tracks as you win. Examples of this type of game are Need for Speed and Mario Kart.
6) Sports games are any game that is a sport in real life. There are even professional (NBA) and college (NCAA) level games of some of the major American Sports (basketball and football). Some people play this for a one-time fun game, and other people like to create a player or team and take them through an entire season, improving their player along the way.
7) Fighting - The vast majority of these games are one fighter versus another fighter. The draw here is the brutality of the fighting, and the learning of fighting moves. These games often take a lot of playing in order to master all of the moves of a given fighter. Yet again, an argument could be made for saying it takes strategy and planning to know which moves to use when.
8) Platformer - These games are action oriented logic games with a main character. They usually involve a simple story line in which the hero of the story must complete each level by jumping from platform to platform, jumping on or shooting the bad guy. These games are rarely violent or gory. Most of the time, the main character and levels are more akin to a cartoonish, Looney Toons look and feel. Some levels are tricky to get to the end and take some trial and error to complete, thus the logic comes into play. Examples of these types of games are Super Mario and Crash Bandicoot.
9) Third person action - These games are similar to the platformer in almost every way, accept they have a more mature theme. Whereas in the platformer, the hero is a cartoon, in the third-person action game, the hero is an realistic looking action star. These games are usually in realistic settings, with more realistic violence, and much harder logic puzzles. Examples of this type of game include Splinter Cell and Tomb Raider.
10) Role-Playing Games (RPG’s) - These games are very similar to the MMORPG’s listed below accept these games are usually designed for only one player, and they have an ending. Depending on how you play the game, the ending is often different. The more you play, the deeper you get into the story, and the more powers your character gains. Examples of this type of game are Final Fantasy and Knights of the Old Republic.
11) Real-time strategy - Games that are basically a fast paced chess game without the turn-taking component. In these games, you are responsible for controlling and commanding an army you have built from scratch. You must face off with whomever you opponent is and try to be the last man standing. Examples of these games include Starcraft and Command and Conquer.
12) First Person Shooters (FPS) - These are games where you are the hero. All you can see on the screen is your gun directly in front of you. bad guys attack you, and you must shoot them. These games are all about the guns. Throughout the games, you get bigger and better guns and must kill bigger and “badder” enemies, adding a very addicting macho (power) factor to the games. Recently, a lot of these games have taken more historical spins, allowing you to be a soldier in Vietnam or WWII. Examples of these games include Halo and Call of Duty.
13) Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG). These are epic games with an everlasting storyline. These games do not have an ending. They are designed to play forever. MMORPG’s are usually played with thousands of other players online at the same time, adding a highly addictive social component to the game. Lastly, these games are designed so that the more you play, the more powerful and well respected you are by everyone playing. Examples of this type of game are Everquest, and the infamous World of Warcraft.
Source- http://www.aspeneducationgroup.com/gameaddiction/most_addictive_games.asp
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