IDHAR UDHAR KI BAAT 127— DON’T MISREAD INDIA Brig PS Gothra (Retd)

“Kon sa nasha karte hain yeh gore? (I wonder which dope these white people are on?)” I said to myself when I heard Peter Navarro remark that Brahmins are profiteering from Russian oil.

Such statements are not arrogance. They are usually the result of half-knowledge applied with full confidence. They may have understood parts of Latin America. They may have influenced Venezuela.
But Asia is not a spreadsheet. It is a civilisational system.

Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iran—even Iraq—have already demonstrated what happens when outsiders underestimate belief systems and societal resilience.

India was once fooled by the East India Company. Not because we were weak, but because we were too civilised—shishtachar came naturally to us.

But that India is gone. Today, even a villager in the remotest area wakes up, checks his mobile, and starts his day by dissecting the sarpanch on WhatsApp. This is not indiscipline. This is awareness.

We joke about Brahmins, but we respect them deeply. They carried the Vedas in memory for generations. Knowledge here was not stored in libraries—it was stored in people. That idea itself may be difficult for those whose educational history barely goes back a few generations.

But India’s strength today is not just heritage. It is combination. We have the right mix of tradition and technology, jugaad and scale, patience and aggression.

Our fishermen—mostly from humble backgrounds—can navigate by stars if GPS fails. Our IT engineers understand the digital vulnerabilities of the world better than the world itself. Our traders can negotiate margins where others see none. Our women quietly build household reserves that can sustain families for years.

Gas supply may stop. We will light chulhas again. Food chains may break. Our langars and bhandaras will not let people sleep hungry. This is not policy. This is civilisation in action.

We are perhaps the only country that can shut down 1.3 billion people overnight and restart the system the next day. Controlled chaos is our natural operating system.

During COVID, we went from zero PPE kits to becoming one of the largest producers in months.
Our chaiwala accepts QR payments, while systems in developed countries crash when WiFi drops.

We don’t digitise systems. We democratise them.

In defence, we were once buyers. Today, we are exporting to dozens of countries—yet we still negotiate like buyers. That mindset is our strength.

When crises hit abroad—Ukraine, Sudan—we don’t just evacuate our citizens. We evacuate others under our flag. We don’t panic. We organise.

Geography has tested us brutally. From Siachen glaciers to Rajasthan deserts, from dense jungles to high seas—our people adapt like nature intended them to. A hillman moves like an ibex. A desert scout can track you without being seen. A tribal cuts through jungle faster than GPS can update. Even our sanitation workers survive environments others would call impossible.

And then comes our military. Thanks to decades of conflict—Pakistan, Sri Lanka, counter-terror operations—our forces are blooded. They can operate in zero-tech environments with the same effectiveness as in high-tech conditions. They know how to take pain. And more importantly—how to inflict it back, many times over. We have faced doctrines like “bleed India with a thousand cuts.”
Yet here we stand—debating politics every morning and building startups every evening.

That is resilience. Strategically, we don’t align blindly. We buy oil from Russia, trade with the US, engage with the Middle East, and compete with China—all at the same time.

We don’t take sides. We take positions. And above all—never forget this: India does not outsource its security. We may cooperate. But survival is always self-driven. So when someone sitting in Washington tries to understand India through charts and clever remarks, I smile.

Because India is not a country you can model. It is a country you have to experience. And by the time you understand it… it has already adapted.

 India does not react fast. India absorbs. And when it responds…you realise it was watching all along.

So, Mr. Peter, don't be under the misconception that you can divide Indian society with such statements. The day India makes its move (dhai chaal), you'll not be able to find a way out.

 

Jai Hind