Hindus, Muslims and Christians came together to pray for her safe return — remarkable unanimity in our religiously divided land even if they prayed in their separate places of worship. The media was insatiable in its appetite for Sunita news. Intrepid TV reporters trawled schools in remote places to bring us soundbites of children saying things like, “I want to say to Sunita, you rocks (sic).”

Sunita Williams brought out the worst in us. Through no fault of hers, she reminded us of how very Third World and second rate we are and how desperate for recognition from the West.

The Indian economy may be booming and there may be those who talk of how we are on the verge of superstardom as the world’s newest economic power, but our minds and hearts remain those of a colonised, defeated people. Our inferiority complex manifests itself most sickeningly every time someone with one drop of Indian blood gets recognition in the West. Sunita Williams is not Indian. She is as American as apple pie but we claimed her.

At least Sunita’s is a real achievement. Six months in space makes her the first woman to have spent that long a time away from Earth. But, had she been just a beauty queen, we would have been as excited. Remember the hysterics when Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai became Miss Universe and Miss World in the same year? In a minute we forgot our qualms about our sanskriti being polluted by decadent western ways and behaved as if these two lovely ladies had won a Nobel prize. They made national headlines and were feted and fawned upon, but when Amitabh Bachchan tried to invite the organisers of the Miss World contest to India, we remembered that beauty contests went against Indian culture. The contest was driven out of India because offended Bharatiya womanhood took to the streets to show its rage.

Speaking of women achievers, please observe the headlines sweet Sania Mirza gets every time she wins a tennis match. She does not count among the world’s top players, but at home she is a heroine. She meets the president and Sonia Gandhi and endorses all kinds of products for vast sums of money. Well, it’s not her fault that we have exalted her, but what is worrying is that it shows us up yet again as a mediocre country that strives not for excellence but for the smallest recognition from the white man.

Instead of striving towards winning every gold medal at the Olympics, as China does, we are jubilant if one of our athletes brings home a copper or silver medal. This hankering for western approval transcends all boundaries. Bollywood, with its extraordinary contribution to cinema, chases after an Oscar or even just a handful of plaudits in Cannes. Why not in Mumbai or Chennai? Why not at the annual Screen awards that this newspaper gives? Would there be more excitement if Shekhar Gupta was white instead of brown?

If you think I am being facetious, you are wrong. As someone who has never hidden my embarrassment at an Italian woman being India’s most celebrated politician, I find myself wondering often if she would have made it had she been Nigerian or black American. After giving the subject considerable thought, I have concluded that she would not have, and this saddens me.

This is not to discredit Sonia Gandhi. That she has got where she has is evidence that the “tallest” political leaders in the land are just a bunch of losers who should have retired long ago if they had any sense of dignity. What worries me as a little, brown Indian woman is our awe of the white skin. Sixty years after Independence we should have got over it, and it is my humble opinion that until we do, we will continue to be a nation that celebrates mediocrity and not excellence. Sunita’s is not a mediocre achievement, it is a real achievement, but to think of it as an Indian achievement is not just absurd but embarrassing. She has done her country proud and that country is the United States of America. Not India.