Taking self shots in front of foreign mirrors

In his farewell address in 1796, the first US president George Washington warned against the influence of attachment of one nation for another. Needless to say, he saw it negatively because, amongst many other reasons, he feared that it could give to ambitious, corrupt, or deluded citizens the opportunity to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country. It's another story that Washington didn't live to see his own country ignore his words. It's using influence to demand attachment from the rest of the world.

We as a nation exist on the other extreme of the spectrum. Excessive liking for all things foreign inspires that attachment in us like pellets attracted to magnets. Our love of foreign education, foreign passport, foreign homes, and foreign recognitions are at an all-time high.  

This high is comparable to those big budget Indian movies, which have got Indian plots, characters and music but are shot in foreign locations. Anything that causes anyone to release a sudden flood of feelings is cathartic. The viewers of Indian movies regularly have that experience when they get to satisfy their wanderlust on movie screens. A great deal about us is inversely comparable to that absurd filmisation. The places look familiar but people and their performances are strikingly alien. 

For us that catharsis goes deeper. It must be said before we delve into that discussion that many of our vital interests have foreign connections. Our two largest national revenue sources, garments and manpower, are tied to foreign markets. Many of our politicians and intellectuals are rumoured to have foreign allegiance. Our children aspire to study in foreign schools. Many of our affluent adults are obsessed with "second" homes.

Other things also have global reach with local roots. Health is one area where life is lived in this country but death is died overseas; obituaries show prominent Bangladeshis are dying in foreign hospitals at an increasing rate. Marriages solemnised at home are consummated abroad.  Destination weddings are mixing vows with vacations. Holidaying is an equally big thing when those who toil in this country like to relax on foreign soil. We shop till we drop in foreign malls. Movies, music and television serials bring international titillations to national sensibilities. Nothing short of foreign terrorists could ever get us worried.

If people in other countries are in two minds, we are actually in three. We are consciously tribal, subconsciously national and unconsciously international. The concoction of all three levels gives us a deflected mental condition in which we hesitate to take everything but ourselves seriously. The easy way out for many of us is foreign association. We either readily recognise anything foreign or summarily seek some kind of foreign recognition.

What underlies the Indian predilection for movie sets in foreign destinations is the business sense to attract more audience. Breathtaking images of mesmerising landscapes and tantalising cityscapes provide instant visual gratification. For many Indians it also must be an act of patriotic sublimation. They surely wish their country were just as picturesque.

It doesn't mean the Indian xenophilia is confined only to the camera frame. India also has foreign trade, diplomatic relations, migration, studies abroad, and a big enough Indian Diaspora to populate a country of its own. Bollywood imitates Hollywood and television shows are western adaptations, while home decoration, lifestyle, attires and eating habits are geared to foreign tastes.

In our catharsis, we are different from the Indians like cowboys are distinguished from rednecks in this famous American joke. It says that while both groups raise cattle, the rednecks get emotionally attached to their cattle. Indians spice up their lives with foreign elements. We don't find interest in life unless it's spiced up with foreign elements. Indians define everything foreign in their context. We define everything ours in the foreign context. 

Ample evidence of it is flaunted on our billboards and walls and in newspapers where recipients and their supporters publicise it every time they win foreign awards. Some banks, which cannot satisfy their customers at home, hoist their awards on foreign stages. Some politicians, who are questionable to their own people, win trophies in international forums. Businessmen bag awards, activists acquire them, professionals procure them, and academics attain them. A nation turned inside out, as if nothing is authentic unless it has the foreign stamp.

It's now suspected that many of these awards could be dubious and some of these could be even bought for money. And that's all the more reason why it has an irony to it. Those who are proud of getting foreign credentials never bother to know if their countrymen are proud of them. 

All things local - institutions, identifications and inspirations - are losing relevance. Our minds working like cameras are obsessed with taking self shots, but not so before standing in front of foreign mirrors. 

The writer is the editor of the weekly First News and an opinion writer for The Daily Star. 

Email: badrul141@yahoo.com