I can’t fathom why Kevin Durant’s ‘India is 20 years behind’ comment caused so much stir and outrage by my fellow Indians on social media?
Let’s looks at the facts vs reality and imagination of what the ‘most valued player’ in basketball said.
“It’s a country that’s 20 years behind in terms of knowledge and experience. You see cows in the street, monkeys running around everywhere, hundreds of people on the side of the road, a million cars and no traffic violations. Just a bunch of underprivileged people there and they want to learn how to play basketball. That was really, really dope to me,” (sic) he was quoted as saying.
Now let’s check the facts…do we see animals on the streets? Of course we do. Hundreds of people on the side of the road? Million cars and no traffic violations?
Absolutely spot on… I see this happening every single day at Old Goa where vehicles keep going on the wrong side, that too on the highway or thousands of cars with tinted glasses (including one of mine)
And I don’t need to comment on the sports infrastructure in India. How else can you explain a country of more than a billion people winning just two Olympic medals at the last Olympics?
I don’t know why Durant has apologised for having spoken the truth, yes he could have worded it better like he said later.
We don’t need to be bitter by what Kevin Durant said, instead we need to try to be better. Like our Prime Minister said on Independence Day in his speech. I quote… “we have to leave this ‘Chalta Hai’ attitude. We have to think of ‘Badal Sakta Hai’ this attitude will help us as a nation.” At least that’s what we need to teach the future generations.
Lastly as for India being 20 years behind in terms of knowledge and experience, it doesn’t matter as long as we keep moving forward. We need to understand India is relatively a new democracy compared to its western counterparts most notably the US and the UK. It’s just a matter of time before we not only catch up with these countries but hopefully lead the way. Jai Hind!
