My friend Ravi and I were chatting about overall situation in India. As usual the discussion came to the question, why no areas in India look like areas in any developed country? Every city has its own Harlem, China town, Dharavi and such tough areas. In most developed countries they manage to hide these areas from out of town people. Those who live in the same city would obviously know about such area. These areas are what can be described as “Fact of Life”. But in India even in Non-Dharavi parts of cities, are seriously deficient. It may be public toilets, it may be roads in posh areas, railway stations, bus stations. What is it that we are lacking? Where is India deficient?
We are doing great in IT, ISRO, Motorcycles, and we are trying to improve ease of doing business in India. These achievements can make every Indian proud. India’s road network is improving, Metros are coming to different cities. Airports are being modernized as are many other places. We have a very large population; if used properly, it can be a great asset! Improvements are seen in the field of Agriculture. Our economy is growing at a brisk pace. Still I don’t feel great from within. Why is this happening?
I feel that all improvements are negated by attitude of overall population. We have ministers who declare in public forum that Darwin’s theory is bogus. We had a lot of ruckus created about a movie which is based on an undocumented 700 years old history. Nobody knows anything about that history. Everything is hearsay! But some Ku Klux Klan type of organizations have offered a booty of Rs.20/ million plus to cut off the nose and ears of the lead actress! How is the actress connected with this? She is just doing her job based a role offered to her! The producer and director are producing this movie based on their interpretation of the historical fiction. This ruckus wasted a lot of time of Supreme Court, putting pressure on local security forces due to uncertain situation in many states. Does this status make you proud?
Yesterday, we had our alumni annual get together. We first met at our college boat club. Nostalgia and the tea served in the canteen went hand in hand. Some of us had not visited the boat club since 1971! We enjoyed our cuppa in plastic cups! To our horror we found that at 3 to 4 crumbled cups were thrown on the ground. We are supposed to be elite engineers from elite 150-year-old college! Did this make us proud?
I had shared with you a story about a doctor who is our contemporary. When he was caught stopping, on his two-wheeler, at a signal on a zebra crossing. When he was fined by an automated system he was livid! I had shared with you a story about a trained Chartered Accountant of Indian Origin, living in Sydney. His idea of fun after going to India on a holiday was to break traffic signals 30/40 times! There is story from England of a group of Indian origin people living in the same town. They were from one village in India. One of them dialed a number in India, then turn by turn they talked with their relatives. Total call duration was 8 hours. When the person received the next bill, he promptly raised a complaint. He claimed, “Yes, we do sometime talk for 15/20 minutes, but 8 hours call indicates that there is a technical error”! The phone company promptly removed their 8-hour call from the bill. Do these stories make us proud?
Most of the stories I shared above are about the so called educated, elite people from our Bharat Desh! Unless these basic behavior changes, how can India improve? I read a statement somewhere. A country is considered developed, when rich people travel in public transport. This happens in UK where Ministers and MP’s go to parliament by tube. Though a lot of good things are happening in India, we as a society are always looking to cheat, break laws with impunity. If govt officials try to implement law, they are threatened and sometimes beaten. The most famous statement on Delhi road is, ” Do you know who my father is?” Very rarely an influential parent will allow the law to take its own course against their children, even if a murder is involved.
Sometime back, I had read a story about Police Commissioner of Tel Aviv. He was found talking on cell phone while driving. The policeman on duty, asked him to stop and fined him. When he read the person’s name on the license, he realized that the person was his biggest boss. Commissioner paid the fine. Couple of hours later the policeman was called to Commissioner’s office. Policeman was worried but on reaching there, he was awarded a certificate for exemplary work! Recently, a couple of ministers were photographed, driving two-wheelers, during a political rally, without a helmet. City police are afraid to even discuss making a police case out of the incident! Does this make us proud?
A lover boy wanted to meet his fiancé who was in transit at an airport. He forged an old ticket and entered the transit area somehow. While coming out he was found and arrested. Why he did this? Why break laws, forge a ticket without fear?
We can find examples galore. These examples just show that on one side we talk of great old Indian civilization but we are not afraid break laws, throw muck around, do what we want. We always want to cut corners. With all such acts, is there any benefit? No there is absolutely no benefit. Then why do we do it? Superiority complex? Superior to what? Does place in authority or having a little extra money give us moral rights to do whatever we want? Do these acts not inconvenience others in the society? Are rules and laws not same for everybody irrespective of your station in the society? Why there is a porter given to ministers to take their hand baggage into an airplane? Is it so difficult? Which law says that it is allowed?
Friends, I will be sharing and discussing more about Indian mentality, regularly. Please share your thoughts and give suggestions. Let us all work together and make ours a great nation. It is doable. All should simply behave like normal humans. All the high posts, minister ships are temporary. Why an army car or a police vehicle halts on a no parking road? Are those using such vehicles with buttery legs? Can’t their drivers park their vehicles in parking zone and come back to pick up, when work is done. We as society treat these misdemeanors as rights and feel proud. Let’s go away from such false pride! The day we start feeling ashamed of such behavior, India will be on the mend.
Jaihind!
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