Its a time honored tradition of Slashdot'ers. You put up an article on some achievement by India, you would get responses that start straight away from the poverty and caste that India has to offer the world. This time too, it is no different.

One post on the successful retreival by India of the satellite, brought out so many silly, ridiculous, funny responses. But there are also some nice, insightful comments. That is what I love about Slashdot. But those niceties apart, you really can't deny this overwhelming feeling that India is been cast as a caste ridden and feudalistic society not worth its claims in the world stage. As one of my colleagues asked me at the Lunch table..." How did the cow got the sacred status it has in India state?" and "You say you are an Indian...aren't you Hindu??" and "You say you speak a different tongue than the rest of India..so are you Indian?"

These questions aren't funny. It only shows the lack of understanding that the world has over India- may be they are partly to blame..as much as (or to a much lesser extent) we are to be blamed. May be we didn't bother to make ourselves heard the "right" way. Is there a right way to be heard? Wouldn't people hear what we are and not what we want them to hear?

Whereas there is no dearth of surveys like this, I couldn't remember hearing anything of this sort done (or even thought) about for other countries...like say Russia, UK or Germany or China or India...Why is it so?