Say it with pride: 'Burned in the USA!'

As a people, we Indians have the civilisational genius of seeing the good in the bad (and the bad in the good, but that's for another time), virtue in vice, the half-full in the Full Monty. So, even as India takes a hit in its international standing as an honest hombre and 'land of Gandhi' (the ojjinal one), and as a country more sinned against than sinning, the proud jugaadi in us is beaming at the thought that an Indian firm has finally been taken to a US court for the first time for being suspected of B-A-A-D behaviour. It seems we aren't alleged of only offering chai-paani any more.

Bribery being what it is in our collective consciousness - a nudge-nudge wink-wink lubricant - the American accusation against one of India's biggest corporate names has provided, along with the standard 'Oh dear' response, the quieter, 'Heh heh, finally, we've made it to the big league!' reaction. The mega-charge joins the more obviously proud ranks of Indian movies like RRR getting Oscar applause and people of our 'mulk' gaining positions of corporate and political power in foreign countries (read: the US). It's like telling the world that we, too, 'can Enron!' Perverse? Sure. Understandable? Maybe. But watch out for the memes. Cloaked as jokes and jibes, they revel at the idea of, to quote the Beatles song 'Honey Pie', 'Now she's hit the big time/ In the USA'.