Grabbing at straws of vain glory

Desis are great about going to town about "achievements" of other desis or even folks who are vaguely desis. It is either that or an outright attack on the person without much background research.

So, it was not surprising to see desis go gaga over Kavya Viswanath of plagarism fame. And, poor Kavya did not realize that writing a book is not like high school or college papers where one generally gets away wit some "borrowing". As soon as the news came out the desis dropped her.

Then, they jumped on the spelling bee/ geography bee bandwagon. It is quite possible that some of these kids have never been to India and they are certainly not part of the Indian education system. But, that does not stop us from gushing about their acheivements. I never understood the obsession with spelling contests. I mean, the purpose of communication is to keep it simple and convey the meaning. So, why would you waste your time memorizing the spelling for painfully complex words that you are almost certain never to use.

Why can't we celebrate real achievements in moderation. And, criticize in moderation.