I fell in love with India on my very first trip to Mumbai 20 years ago. I hardly spent a day there, but the memory of it is forever printed in my mind. The ride to my hotel on that early morning, unfurled an unforgettable scene of slum dwellers washing up and easing themselves in vague lands with their backs to the roads. These were flanked with never-ending lines of shops and businesses in front of which people were waking up in yawns. They seemed to have had a good night’s sleep in spite of having lain down on the floor, in the open, at the mercy of the elements, mosquitoes and rats.

The luxury of my accommodation, where I hardly could close my eyes, waiting for the time to come to embrace Mumbai live contrasted sharply with the prelude I had of the metropolis.

I remember it was early September, either on the eve of my birthday or on the 21st anniversary of the day I was born itself. The monsoon rain, a blessing of nature for the Indians, did not prevent me from exploring the clamorous and busy streets which were bestowed with an endless variety of articles and services.

I was told bargaining was part of the game so I negotiated upon already cheap prices under the miserable eyes of a crowd of beggars stretching out their hands for a sign of generosity.

I can still feel the taste of the spicy snack I shared with a colleague in a little restaurant. We were both shocked with the hot taste we soothed with chilled local fizzy drinks as foreign brands were hardly available on the market at that time due to the then restricting policy of India towards these products. Yet the culinary tradition of the sub continent was and is still dominated by chilly, tomatoes and potatoes, which originate from America. These products were unknown to the rest of the planet before late 15th century when Christopher Columbus showed the way to the so-called ‘New world’… To say that globalization is an unavoidable process, which needs not be necessarily bad.

At night I had a delicious dinner at a nice restaurant where I experienced the proactive and excellent Indian hospitality characteristic of the Indian soul itself.

Most important of all, I never felt like a foreigner in India, I was welcome, safe and accepted with wide hands and no less wide smiles.

In fact, the only indications of my foreign origins were the way I dressed and talked. Otherwise I would have mingled with the locals unnoticeably.

It’s always with the same pleasure that I regularly seize the opportunity to go to India since that memorable day, that is why I cannot help myself feeling sorry and concerned when it is hit with either manmade or natural disasters. The latest in date are the outrageous bomb blasts on the train line in Mumbai on 11 July last. This despicable act of hatred towards mankind claimed more than 160 lives in a country which can rightly be referred to as the biggest democracy of the planet in spite of its shortcomings.

Yes kids, India is a country which not only preaches tolerance and unity in diversity but also practises them. While the majority of Indian nationals share the Hindu faith, its president is a Muslim and the prime minister is Sikh! If this is not equal opportunity, it is at least a strong indication of it in the making!

Conscious that there cannot be equal opportunity, without a dose of positive discrimination, the Indian authorities have made allowance for some kind of preferential treatments for vulnerable and oppressed groups of its society so these could be relieved from the handicap they suffer in virtue of their unfavourable background. This humanitarian approach of governing stands as an example to the world.

Once again, this does not mean that India has a perfect society, far from that: 81% of its population living with US$2- or less a day, but at least the base is there. A base of non violence and tolerance inherited through history from great magnanimous rulers like Ashoka, Akbar and some decades ago the great Mahatma Gandhi to mention but a few.

A base, which has made of India a land of adoption for people of different origins throughout the ages. Did you know I knelt before Christ apostle, St Thomas’ tomb in Chennai?

While 2% of the population is Christian, India has a very vibrant church which has allowed peace makers like Mother Theresa to sow the seeds of love and peace worldwide.

Similarly other minority groups enjoy freedom of faith and culture in India because the country has a tradition of multicultural sharing and harmony. It considers religion as being only one of many criteria, which determine the identity of a human being. India refuses division along the fragile lines of colour and creed .

Fortunately ashes in India have always been but short lived. It is a strong country, which has always been able to fight its evils. Will terror succeed where Alexander the great, Aurangzeb, and the British empire failed ?

None will be able to stop this lovely country from being the next greatest economy of the planet after being its biggest democracy but it will have to fight even more vehemently the inefficiency and class divide using the solid foundation left by visionaries through history.

Terrorism cannot have a upper hand on resourceful nation fuelled by spirituality and non violence that’s why it has no chance in India, where lies my preference.

<B>Alain JEANNOT</B>