Boston.com / News / World / Asia / India resists tsunami aid, reveals new identity: "'We can stand on our own feet,' the 47-year-old typist said as he gazed at a photograph of his wife and pregnant daughter, who were swept away in this disaster, among the nearly 7,000 people from this south India district who died."

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"'Somehow, with the tsunami, India has come into its own,' said Imtiaz Ahmed, a political scientist at Jawaharlal Nehru University. 'Refusing government aid was an opportunity to show the world a new self-reliant, assertive India.'

By giving aid and sending naval relief ships to stricken nations, India put itself in a different slot, of being both victim and savior, the analysts said. Globally, the nation sought to make a transition from being a recipient into a donor.

'We may have hurt foreign governments by refusing aid, but it was a necessary rebuff,' said Swapan Dasgupta, a political commentator. 'India has to permanently relinquish its begging bowl and Third World image. We need to show that we can help ourselves as also others.'"

(Via The Boston Globe.)