Even as the news treads the thin line between inanity and vanity, it is incredibly boring. And I, for one, am thankful for the morning biscuits that add an extra sparkle to my breakfast meal.

Take a look for yourself, and you can see what I mean.

On any given day, a couple of headlines explain how the Indian chariot of progress is kicking up a dust storm that will leave the Chinese coughing in its wake.

Yet another story will cheer an Indian or an Indian creation for a foreign award, be it the Oscars, Wimbledon, or even the first prize for the Snodsbury Grammar examination in a little (and fictitious) English village.

And how can one forget the quote from an unknown American senator praising some aspect of Indian society -- no matter if it is of any relevance to any issue at hand at all.

In fact, all politicians who have trouble getting noticed in their homeland can say things like, 'The daffodils in India are prettier than those in Holland.' They can then rest assured that at the very least, hundreds of Indian newspapers will lap up their words, even as filmmaker Yash Chopra pays a visit to the Dutch consulate to renew his visa.

This state of affairs is as tragic as is deplorable.

India is too great, too vast and too complex a land to have all of its news neatly ordered within two or three categories.

One can see why this is happening. For years, India had to lean on the twin pillars of exoticism and spirituality to gain any form of recognition from the external world. Now all of that is now changing as Indians are setting the pace in the worlds of science and commerce.

Even as the world changes, Indians find themselves at the forefront of this transformation. And India is demanding its fair share of respect from a planet that had studiedly ignored it for so many years.

For all of humanity, these are times that carry with them the sweet fruits of immense possibility. For Indians, these are also times that bring with them a great responsibility.

We have a destiny to choose, and it is important we make the right choice.

Sure, we can be a superpower of the modern age like America. But there are two Americas, and we have to make a conscious effort to be more like one than the other at every step of this journey.

One America is George W Bush's America. It is an America that is closed, arrogant, inward looking and suspicious. It is not based on any universal principles that will stand the test of time. On the contrary, it is a nation driven by reactionary policies that -- at the best of times -- can be described as opportunistic.

It is a nation that shakes hands with dictators on one hand, and bombs democracy on another. It is a nation where the flag has come to stand not for a people, but for a ruthlessly efficient mechanism of power, a rabid army of elephants that see the world in one colour – green -- and are unable to tell the villagers from the grass underneath their feet. A nation where all other countries are nothing but passive receptacles for its opinions, thoughts and actions.

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