Ladies and Gentlemen, the sun has never risen in the East, and it never will. In fact this whole thing about the sun rising is one of nature’s biggest practical jokes. It is merely an optical illusion created by the Earth rotating from west to east. That is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. However we mortals have a curious need for twisting the meanings of words, and inventing meanings that really aren’t there. Respected chairperson, judges and my dear friends, today’s topic is an example of that need.
I could pull out a number of meanings from this topic. The first one goes something like this: Today, the Asian economy is booming, particularly in China and our very own India. Our economy has an annual growth rate of 8% second only to that of China. Talking about China, it has become home to a radical new economy, one that is a strange fusion of Communism and partial capitalism. Japan has been for quite a few years, a world leader in electronics technologies and is competition even for the mighty USA. As for us, we have become the world’s greatest “back office”. We’ve already become the hub for BPO and now even scientific research is being “outsourced” to India, whatever that means. If I was a poet, then I would say, that the “sun is rising in the east”. But then again we all know that poets are a loony lot and personally I’d like to keep my sanity.
You know, that’s what the problem is with all of us. We take an innocent statement, in this case an innocent little lie, and twist into something completely alien. Like Julius Caesar says “Men may construe things clean from their purpose” Well men, do construe things clean from their purpose. If I was less economic and more economically inclined, I’d say, “China is moving from hardcore Communism to a more democratic system. India has just celebrated the 52nd anniversary of her democratic system. The new sun of democracy is rising in the East.” Well, I would really love to agree, but I can’t. I’m not too sure about China, but we all know that Indian democracy is really a myth.
And that just goes to show that I was right all along, the sun really isn’t shining in the East and we’re making much ado about nothing.