We Indians are proud of our culture and tradition.  We are proud of our strong relationships, family bondage, love for nature, festivities, marriage system, scientific knowledge since the ancient times, rich literature, scriptures, various forms of arts and so many other things. With all this, we also do not lag behind in adopting technologies, making strides in modern science and technology, keeping pace with the developed nations in IT, BT, infra-structure development, fashion, cinema and what not.  These days, more and more people outside India know about our country, our people, our culture because there are Indians in almost all countries of the world, contributing their knowledge and skill for the development of those countries. Recently, I had the opportunity of visiting Zurich and my experience there was wonderful.  Travel is very enriching and enlightening.  No wonder great leaders like Gandhi and Nehru started their career with travel around the country.  And traveling to foreign lands is all the more interesting.  Seeing is believing and first-hand experience is something which can never be replaced with any amount of reading. As usual, the perfectly smooth roads and pavements without potholes, the cleanliness, the discipline of the people, the civic sense of the citizens, the wonderful transport system, the sparse population, the absence of noise (especially of horns and loud chatters) and the aesthetic colours of the buildings were what attracted me, as is the case in many developed countries.  The additional features that attracted me were the warmth and friendliness of the people, the casual lifestyle, the love of local language among the locals and of course the bountiful natural beauty of the place. Quite a lot of Indians and people from other Asian countries live in Zurich.  It is a pleasure to see Indians so well jelling with the local population and leading happy lives there.  All fine!  That is the case with Indians anywhere they go.  They do respect the culture of the country and do not fail to follow as much as they can.  Without any religious bias, Indians in the U.S. and Europe celebrate Christmas and Halloween’s Day.  These days, these festivals have become popular in India too.  Community celebrations on these days are on the increase. So far so good!  But as I traveled back to India, I had to change my flight at Dubai.  From Dubai the flight was occupied fully by Indians and a few others from Dubai, except for a couple of Europeans.  What pained me was the marked difference in the behaviour of the passengers at Dubai airport.  The same passengers would have behaved very well and followed all rules while traveling from the U.S. or Canada or some European country, just like the majority of others.  What happens to them the moment they see themselves all among fellow Indians?  Rules fly up in the air!  Same was my experience at the Singapore airport, while returning from the U.S.  Passengers had no patience of listening to the announcements made by the authorities and the moment boarding gates were open, they rushed to the gates in a big crowd!  The polite announcements to follow an order to enter so that passengers to occupy the last portion of the aircraft go in first, were just not heeded to.  People were forcing themselves in, as though they were to enter first to get a seat, like in local buses of India.  After entering the aircraft, the passengers would not settle down fast but block the aisle, adjusting their hand baggages, discussing about allotment of seats, arranging for exchanges and so on!  So, passengers entering later get stranded in the aisle.  The air crew who normally welcome passengers with a smile and assist them in sitting at the right places and putting their hand baggage into the cabin bunkers, were all dumb-struck with this behaviour and just stood aside with irritated looks. I was shocked with this scene.  How can I not feel ashamed of calling myself an Indian in such a crowd?  It pained me a lot.  Living here, we have hundreds of complaints against our own brethren, who are less fortunate, illiterate and less-informed.  I felt bad when a German woman said, “I wanted to travel to India, but I heard it is not a safe place for tourists and hence cancelled my trip to India and traveled to South Africa”, when I invited her to India.  We hear a lot about how foreign tourists are taken for a ride by taxi-wallas, auto-wallahs and hotels.  We have ourselves experienced the pathetic conditions of public toilets (which are but few), unhygienic eateries, filthy surroundings and touts in all tourist places.  All these put us off even at the most beautiful tourist places that we have in plenty.  A recent article in the local daily Deccan Herald very well exposed the sorry state of affairs. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jul132008/sundayherald2008071278406.asp Now, as if all this is not enough, well-educated Indians, who have the good fortune of visiting other countries and sometimes living there for years, contribute their share of negative images of our country and countrymen to the outside world.  These people have no excuse, because they have money, they have education, they have knowledge, they have exposure to other cultures and they have opportunities.  So, why cannot they bring back good things from other cultures, when they come home?  What prevents them from following rules in a place infested with Indians, when they have followed rules everywhere else?  What prevents them from learning the good things from other cultures, when they can so easily ape others in eating Pizzas and fast food items, in dressing the way the others do, in speaking their languages (sometimes even ignoring their own mother-tongue), in celebrating Halloween’s Day and Valentine’s Day and so many other things? Indian tradition of hospitality is very ancient.  Guests are like Gods to us and there are stories where the hosts go hungry or even kill their own child to entertain guests, in our scriptures.  Even today, we entertain guests, even if they visit us without announcement and at unearthly hours, with a smile.  Just a drive along some of our remote villages will prove this point.  We were once given refuge by a very poor family on a highway, in their hut, as we could not drive in the heavy rainfall.  Villagers heartily give us the food grains or vegetables or fruits that they grow in their little farms, when we visit them.  We belong to such a nation and let us preserve this nature of ours.  Let the lucky few among us, who go outside and the unlucky lot within the country, project a good image of our country, so that more and more visitors tour our country, fearlessly.