A tale of two countries
Columnist Don Morgan reports from Ireland... - 02/02/10
India is 60 years a republic. Happy birthday to all billion of you.
If you had a party, I’d be hard pressed to fit pressies for all of you in the back of the car, not even if it was a VW camper van. I would try though, or at least come and visit. As it turns out, we’re as much responsible for the success of India as anyone else from the outside.
It occurred to me last week, and not just me might I add, that India is a lot more friendly than your average nuclear superpower. The Washington Post thought similarly - India is the world power that isn’t a scary prospect.
It’s is like Ireland but with better weather. At the very least, there’s a diversity of weather that means you’ll be able to go somewhere to escape the grey drudgery that passes for weather here.
The Indian Ambassador to Ireland, with whom I somehow ended up talking the other day, seemed to feel the same way, extending this thought even further.
There’s no one India either, apparently. Could this be a problem, it was mused, when trying to get westerners, such as us Irish, to come and visit the subcontinent? Some might think so, but afterwards, people I spoke to all felt differently. Its diversity surely wasn’t a barrier at all to go there.
The issue set me thinking about home and our current economic (in-)activity - Is there one Ireland? Are we selling the right one(-s) to tourists in what was once the multimillion Euro mainstay of our own economy?
Politically speaking, there isn’t one Ireland. There certainly has never been an independent one anyway. We developed as a collection of kingdoms and tribal fiefdoms who jockeyed for the big prize of High King of Ireland, with a seat at what’s now the closest thing to motorway services on the Navan-Dublin Motorway.
The British lumped us all into the same pot, planted us, brought us into their world kicking and screaming until, lo and behold, we bought into it and then wanted out. Most of us anyway, I’m looking at you, Peter Robinson...
For the full column, buy this week's Irish World at your local newsagents, or buy a copy HERE from only 50p!
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