India : country of poor and cows

I am living in europe for more than a year now and it is has been a topic of talk many a time how india is about. Unfortunately for the western media india is a country
that has cows on the streets,
where most of the population is beggar and no rich,
of hindu fundamentalist where it is difficult to live for people of any religion but hindu,
where all people go to temple everyday,
streets are full of dirt ant traffic is chaotic,
where people don't know how to eat and eat with fingers, no spoons, knife and fork, so unhygienic I have seen many times on television channels in europe (including RAI and TF) when they will go to a very small village and will show caste system, dirty house and poor people etc, etc. It is the same with magazines in western world. No one ever question if it is all about india. I will discuss all the topic one after another will try to show that it is not the everything that is india about. There is another face of India too that is missing from the all this discussion and no media will show this because then they will not get money for what they will write or write.Cows on Streets I can not deny that it is a fact that there are cows on the many streets. But there are two point to discuss about this. First is, why they are there and second is which country doesn't has animals on the streets. Answer to first question is there, it is very difficult situation that cows can not be killed in india because of religious region. There are some very small regions in India where people eat beef, but that is a exception and rule. And the percentage of people who eat beef will be less than 0.1% (one out of a thousands) or even a less. So if a cow become old, non productive or their is no owner what to do with the cow, they come on streets. But it is not that there 100 of cows on every street. There are some cows somewhere, but not everywhere. Second answer is this really so bad to have cow on the street that the media should make this an issue and talk about this so much. It is a well known fact that France has more dogs than the population if France. Who does not see the dogs on every street of France. Is there any criteria that can prove that dog is better than a cow. so if there is a dog that is not an issue but we can not see a cow on street. In any sense cow is much better than a dog. cos gives milk for at least 15 yrs, give calves those are used to pull bullock cart in Indian villages and here used for beaf. Its dung is used as natural fertilizer. What does a dog give??? In the old time it could have been said that a dog is useful for security but in a developed country like France where every house has latest security system, I don't see dog is used for this purpose. Dog is allowed in the airplane, train and in every official or unofficial place, but why not a cow?Financial condition of people India is a poor country of rich people. It seems a joke but it is true. India (that is the government) is poor because people of India do not pay due taxes. But it does not mean that people are poor or beggar. India has more people with one crore (10 millions in hindi) rupees than the population of any country of europe. But one may think that it is rupee and west has euro or dollars. Even after conversion and taking into account the purchasing power, 10 million rupees is equivalent to 1 million euro in Europe. In a city like like Delhi, Bombay (now Mumbai), Banglore, Hydrabad and many other, cost of a small house is more than a millions rupees (equivalent to 100 thousands of euro). There are tens of thousands of people in each big city who owns bigger houses than this. Most of the people owns houses because concept of taking loan from Banks for house is new and still not very popular. So it is not like here where most of the people are on loan of 15 or 20 years of bank loan. But this is only a part of story, there are many poor people too. Many people have to live in slums and this the part of India that is shown by western media. But if someone is afraid of beggars that is not true. Every country has beggars. In a small city like Nancy (where i am living), there are at least 20 beggars. They are everywhere, outside every super market there is at least one beggar. There are some outside post office or any possible place where they believe people get cents in return and they may get these cents, beggars are available. Population of Nancy is around 100 thousands only and has 20 beggars. It means on an average 200 beggars on every million of population. But i am sure number of beggars in Paris is more than this. Population of India is more than 1100 millions, so even by the standards of France, India can have more than 200 thousands of beggars and still no one should raise question. But unfortunately it is not true. Media will show that there are only beggars.Hindu Fundamentalist If a small incidence will happen in a big country like India that will become an issue for all world. If a muslim will hurt somewhere for any reason, it will case of no freedom to muslims for everyone outside India. Western media does not tell that India is the home of second largest population of muslims in the world. They have freedom to do whatever they want. They have special constitution rights. (For example they are allowed to carry on their shariyat rules). Which country in the world give separate rights to citizens based on their religion? President of India is Muslim. Will anybody ever imagine that the President of Arab other than a muslim and President of America other than a christian. Pakistan cry about Kashmir and everyone in western world know about Kashmir. But people of Kashmir are living better life than any muslim in Pakistan. People of Kashmir, mostly muslims, are not killed by Indian Army but by militants who say they are followers of Allah. I don't know where Quran says that kill the other people (and specially muslims). There are not only muslims, there are also christian, parsis, jews, Buddhist and many other religions. And they have significant presence and full freedom. All people live in harmony and together in spite of the some small incidences here and there once in a while. People of one religion to support the people of other religion if there is any communal fight. Eating with Hand Very few people use knife or fork in India. But many people use spoon. Before eating people wash their hand. People try to have hygienic food in a different way than west, but it is does not mean it is non-hygienic. I have seen people here, they put bread (Pain in french) anywhere on the table. who secure that the table is perfactly clean?Traffic No doubt, traffic is not very much organised.Temples Very few people visit tempe everyday. some visit once in a week. But many hindu people worship everyday in home and muslims go to mosque once in a day or on friday (jumma in urdu). But it is not bad, it is good for keeping spiritual health of people in good condition.After saying all this i will just say that everything is not perfact, but everything is not so bad as is shown by western media. There are bad things but there also good things. things are different from west, but that does not make it bad. Media should show both parts and let the people decide it is good, bad or affordable.date : 24th July, 2004.