{"id":1993,"date":"2016-04-27T11:14:58","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T05:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/indians-national-animal-tiger-republic-day\/"},"modified":"2016-04-27T11:14:58","modified_gmt":"2016-04-27T05:44:58","slug":"indians-national-animal-tiger-republic-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=1993","title":{"rendered":"Why We Indians Are Nothing Like Our National Animal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/span><\/p><\/div>

n a recently heated discussion at a rooftop winter party in Delhi, a debate raged about what decides the fate of a country. Some said it\u2019s the Constitution, while some argued that it\u2019s the leaders that make a difference, and a few others said it\u2019s public goods. To me the answer lay elsewhere: It\u2019s your<\/span> national animal<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\n\nIf you\u2019ve paid any attention to what animal represents which country, chances are you are working in the media. Nobody else has the time to think of this stuff. But, if you have, you\u2019ll realise that the choice of a national animal is no coincidence. Just like brands arise out of symbols, animals and birds chosen to represent a country are also harbingers of its fate.<\/span>\n\nYou will notice, for starters, that the countries that have chosen apt animals are doing just fine. The Chinese have the dragon and they are spewing fire and growing at will. Dragons don\u2019t follow a path and all. They just go for broke. The Americans have the bald eagle. Very apt, one might say. An eagle swoops over land and catches innocent prey, sometimes off guard. Of course, with technology, the innocent are in far-off lands like Afghanistan, Iraq, and<\/span> Syria<\/span><\/a>. But hey, those countries needed democracy alright.<\/span>\n\nAustralia has the kangaroo and they are on point. The Australians have hopped into the future. One moment you don\u2019t hear about them and the next, they\u2019re suddenly changing the world \u2013 in cricket, they led the way with Steve Waugh\u2019s team or in politics, with their immigration policy. Canada has a horse \u2013 majestic, good-looking, strong, healthy, and handsome \u2013 and it reflects in the choice of their PM. That the Canadians are galloping away when it comes to liberalism also makes their choice completely well-deserved. Denmark has a mute swan, and again, it\u2019s perfect. Rarely do you come across Danes with a vociferous point of view on anything? Greece has the Phoenix and given its debt crisis, it is expected to rise from the ashes. Pakistan has the crocodile and most nationalists will agree that it is a fine choice. Anything works for Pakistan, as long as it is not a pleasant animal known for its kind deeds. <\/span>\n\nAnd this is where India suffers. We\u2019ve got it wrong with the tiger. Because let\u2019s face it, we are not tigers. We can be peacocks who come out to dance when it rains, but that\u2019s probably only Shah Rukh Khan\u2019s \u201cChak Dhoom Dhoom\u201d crew from <\/span>Dil Toh Pagal Hai. <\/span><\/i>By choosing the tiger, we have set the bar too high. People expect us to be aggressive, sharp, and proud. But we\u2019re pretty laid back. We\u2019re happy if we get a bronze in Olympics. We\u2019re happy if we jump 30 places on the Ease of Doing Business index \u2013 completely discarding the fact that we\u2019re still in the bottom 100. We\u2019re thrilled when we lose a final; we celebrate for being the first runner-up. We aren\u2019t endangered by any stretch of imagination, and God knows, we aren\u2019t reclusive either. Tigers are fiercely private and we think nothing of watching an entire film on someone else\u2019s phone screen. Tigers clean up behind them. We don\u2019t, we still expect<\/span> Dalits<\/span><\/a> to do it.<\/span>\n\n

India got it wrong with the tiger as the national animal. Because let\u2019s face it, we are not tigers. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nSo perhaps, it is time we change our national animal. Of course, given the times we live in, the lowest hanging fruit is the<\/span> cow.<\/span><\/a> But remember, it\u2019s the national animal we are talking about here, not the nationalist animal. And also some of us are still eating it. You shouldn\u2019t be able to order a national animal off a menu, should you? \u00a0<\/span>\n\nAlternatively, we can choose the donkey. Hardworking, honest, and one who never complains \u2013 no matter how badly you treat it, it\u2019ll stay loyal and do your work. The relationship of our citizens and bureaucracy is a lot like that. But some might prefer the rat \u2013 low on courage, scurrying from pillar to post to get a job done, and always in a proverbial race. And then there is the sheep \u2013 be it engineering,<\/span> marriage<\/span><\/a>, or career choices \u2013 nobody is better than us when it comes to following the herd. We love echo chambers. Mehh.<\/span>\n\nBut hiding from all these obvious choices is the real winner:<\/span> Po, the Panda<\/span><\/a> from <\/span>Kung Fu Panda<\/span><\/i>. The panda will work well for India because nobody expects anything out of a panda. If he gets some work done, it comes as a surprise. If he doesn\u2019t, it\u2019s cool. Much like how India works. If the Metro gets made on time, we\u2019re surprised. If it takes seven extra years, we\u2019re absolutely fine with that. Nobody protests, nobody expects much from the government.<\/span>\n\nPo is always hungry and ready for a snack. Given that we are the carb capital of the world, that\u2019s a natural fit too. Much like Po, we need incentives to work hard. We won\u2019t <\/span>just<\/span><\/i> do our jobs. What\u2019s the point of that? What Master Shifu does to make Po train, is exactly how we work too. Show us incentive and we will move mountains. Tell an Indian to follow any rule or about prohibition, and our first reaction is, \u201cKuch ho sakta hai kya, dekho na?<\/span>\u201d <\/span><\/i>We want to subvert it, we want to bend it. Not because we\u2019re inherently dishonest. But because we just enjoy it; we find some sort of thrill in this.<\/span>\n\nWith the budget session starting in the coming week and no worthwhile discussion likely to be on the cards, maybe this issue can be worthy of a walkout. We\u2019re great at going at each other like cats and dogs anyway.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is the tiger the correct choice for our national animal? Maybe not. Because we are nothing like the tiger. A lazy panda is what we should\u2019ve picked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":1994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[3982,3983,3984,3985,3986,3987,2298,3675],"class_list":["post-1993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pov","tag-indians","tag-lazy-indians","tag-national-animal","tag-panda","tag-peacocks","tag-republic-day","tag-srk","tag-tiger"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy We Indians Are Nothing Like Our National Animal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is the tiger the correct choice for our national animal? Maybe not. Because we are nothing like the tiger. 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