In my more than 3 score years of existence, I have visited 17 countries outside of India, for durations as less as one day to a maximum of 6 months at a stretch. My longest stays have been in the U.S. and the U.K. My first trip abroad was when I was 27 years of age.
A major difference of people and systems in other countries, vis-a-vis India is that there is concern for people that is evident everywhere – this seems to be lacking in India. Every little detail, little action of a person reflects this concern. Be it public transport – rail, buses, trams OR design of roads, pavements, pedestrian crossings, public toilets, doors, windows, doorways, latches, door knobs, handles; or the facilities for drinking water…the list is endless and it can go on. The designs are user friendly and easy to handle. This concern permeates down to the attitude and behaviour of the individuals. Its a pleasure, not just to visit, but also to live in these countries. Concern for others makes better human beings and we desperately need to cultivate the basic courtesies.
The effort is always on how the care and concern for other humans can be improved. How the disabled, handicapped, blind or even deaf and dumb persons can vend their way around without having to depend on another individual always holding the hand and leading them. The big shopping malls, cinema hall, restaurants, buses and other public places – are equipped with ramps for being suitable for wheel chairs or mobility scooters. You will hardly find a public place where these cannot be used.
The poorest country that I have visited is Tanzania, much poorer than India (GDP of Tanzania is US$ 61 billion as compared to India's GDP of 3862 billion - for 2010, compiled by IMF). In spite of it not being in the list of the advanced nations, I felt the people there are far ahead of us in basic courtesies, manners and the like. The general cleanliness was far better than what I have ever observed in my motherland. Traffic was disciplined. Sign boards were readable and not pasted over by posters or vandalised. Even the domestic help was trustworthy and you could leave your household keys with him/her. A basic honesty of character is noticed world wide, except in India.
I feel ashamed that my countrymen are incapable of even such simple things. We are unable to maintain cleanliness. In India when we sweep our home, the garbage is often dumped on the street. We cannot even provide dust bins. There is no concern for feeling for others, surroundings or the environment. To see beyond ourselves is the need of the hour. Then only we will inculcate care for the community, then the country and other countrymen – finally the other human beings.
It may not have ever occurred to you, when two cars cross each other on a narrow road, signal of blinking the headlights means “I am waiting, please come through,” in ALL other countries except in India. In India it means - “YOU WAIT (SUCKER) I'M COMING THROUGH”.
Why do we have this arrogance? We were not like this. Our tehzeeb was “PAHLE AAP!!”. Where has it got lost in the years? Now we are a culture of “PAHLE MEIN!!!”.
When we use a public toilet, we do not seem to bother about the condition we leave it in. We expectorate in the wash basins. We never wipe the basin for the next user. We do not realise how it feels to someone entering a filthy loo. In Europe (specially in Switzerland) I noticed that the public toilets had instructions in Hindi, that we should not squat but sit on the seat, we should not throw other items like Sanitary Pads, Hand Tissues/Towels etc. in the WC - only toilet paper. Why in Hindi? It only means that we do not use the toilets with a concern for the next user. I feel ashamed to admit that we have been singled out for those instructions, because of our obnoxious behaviour in such places.
Have we become totally different from the rest of the world? Is our way of life at fault? Are our religious teachings not what it should be? As it is Hindu religion is considered a way of life. The gods we pray to and idolise are the ones that govern our morals, our righteousness, our customs and manners. Are we picking up a lot of undesirable traits from the gods we worship?
Lord Krishna has used deceit on more than one occasion. Surrender of Bhishma, killing of Jaidratha by Arjun, surrender of Drona by using the name of Ashwathama, the elephant; killing of Duryodhana by Bhim etc. etc.- have all been done by deceit. Thus use of deceit is justified. The Bhagwad Gita is considered our Bible. It tells us of the immortality of the soul or the atma. Our scriptures also tell us about karma and rebirth. All these tend to give us a fatalistic attitude and make us accept any situation deeming it as preordained. It absolves us of the responsibility of our actions. All this makes us very selfish. If I am deceitful – it cannot be helped – being preordained. This also kills the motivation for questioning and advancement. Thus, this becomes a dangerous combination – being fatalistic and justifying deceit, along with being selfish.Lord Ram was a brave warrior but he was unable to trust and respect his wife. He was called a maryada purushottama; justifying his fulfillment of his moral obligations. Giving up his right to the throne (develops fatalistic attitude).
These are the characters that we try and emulate in our lives.
I shall always remember the The Gettysburg Address of Abraham Lincoln of November 19, 1863, where he said "-- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." He had the foresight and thinking, almost 150 years ago, that has made America the power that it is today. We are absolutely incorrigible and still refuse to learn anything even after the great fiasco of the Common Wealth Games; and to cap it all, the General Secretary of the Organizing Committee (Mr Lalit Bhanot) said "..westerners have different standards..." trying to justify our failings. When a senior official of the country says such a thing in public - and gets away with justifications - where is the standing of the rest of the Indians!
Does that mean we cannot improve or change while following the religious philosophy's of Hinduism? I leave the answer of this to be analysed and decided by the readers themselves...
6 comments:
true but to blame is also inadequate infrastructure.
You try to cross a road or allow others to cross first and see what happens?? may be you get clue "why me first syndrome. But it goes without saying - Human courtesy is must and there could be no excuse
The entire system has become so rotten to the core that we do not know from where to start the cleaning process. Spectrum scam of Rs.1.76 lacs crores and the guy has no iota of shame. Whye cant he put behind bars like other criminals. We are religious people, but conveniently religious as long as i suits us without caring a fig for others. We have totally forgotten what is called basic courtsey.
Pratap, the rot in the system has set in over the last 63 years since our Independence and we have only ourselves to blame.
The remedy is only by a bloody revolution in which all such people at the helm of the affairs are guillotined/hanged/shot and maybe taken over by a dictatorial rule or army rule. We do not deserve a democracy.
In the present scenario - this is highly unlikely (almost impossible) because of our deep roots in Hindu philosophy.
Remember, we - the so called middle class - is not the middle class any longer and we would most likely fall in the top 1% of our society and will also get crushed or eliminated in such an uprising...
You are so right Uncle. I have seen the similar cultural difference in people when we talk about basic courtesy. At home we are taught to behave like a good person, may be because our religion/ culture had these moral values. However, in the recent past, may be since independence, the hypocritical behavior has developed and was never checked. The Hindu mythology always helped in enlightenment of oneself; may it be Mahabharata, which taught the difference between good and bad deeds, or Ramayana, which taught how we should lead our lives (I mean, our life is not for ourselves but for upliftment of society). Both the epics teaches us that "KARMA HI PUJA HAI". But since independence, we are continuously/ indirectly taught to think about our own upliftment. I am sure the behavior will change as we have more global exposure. Hoping for the best with the recent major step taken by the government to eliminate black money, which started to generate since independence. The financial status of a person might guide him the correct way of living; if people don't have anything to hide, they might end up doing what they feel I right, which essentially mean change of behavior. Jai Hind!
You are so right Uncle. I have seen the similar cultural difference in people when we talk about basic courtesy. At home we are taught to behave like a good person, may be because our religion/ culture had these moral values. However, in the recent past, may be since independence, the hypocritical behavior has developed and was never checked. The Hindu mythology always helped in enlightenment of oneself; may it be Mahabharata, which taught the difference between good and bad deeds, or Ramayana, which taught how we should lead our lives (I mean, our life is not for ourselves but for upliftment of society). Both the epics teaches us that "KARMA HI PUJA HAI". But since independence, we are continuously/ indirectly taught to think about our own upliftment. I am sure the behavior will change as we have more global exposure. Hoping for the best with the recent major step taken by the government to eliminate black money, which started to generate since independence. The financial status of a person might guide him the correct way of living; if people don't have anything to hide, they might end up doing what they feel I right, which essentially mean change of behavior. Jai Hind!
Your thoughts, frustration and indigence at what's going on around us mirror my own, very nicely put sir. That said, few opinions:
1. "We" feel sad when we see folks flinging garbage out on the streets. "We" are also very few - most don't even know it's wrong - the thought doesn't cross their minds. We were visiting Mysore Zoo earlier and the lady at the ice-cream counter actually took each dessert out of its plastic cover to dispose of it responsibly, and handed over the stick/ cone/ cup to each customer without the wrapping that comes with it. Nice green initiative by the zoo authorities, pity the masses have no sensitivity or sensibility.
2. Trash bins have been planted many times in many cities but they're mostly stolen within a week. It's a problem that needs active municipal intervention - fines for trashing.
3. Problem is not merely cultural... ill-begotten wealth follows the garbage mafia who want these trash morons to continue to fling stuff on the streets. Corruption is where that stems from. You're aware of how garbage segregation has popular support but not the civic agencies and their goons who mix them back to keep the volumes high.
4. Lastly, your reference to Bhagwad Gita/ Ramayana/ etc. is probably based on transliterated understanding, or hearsay ... unfortunately that also is the misunderstood version for most, having read an abridged/ opinionated version of the original tomes as a quick-read potboiler rather than a metaphorical masterpiece. To blame a bollywood script on a real-life elopement (say) is one of our nation's favorite pastimes. I'm no scholar but if it takes entire semesters to unravel the marvels of each of Shakespeare's works, Bhagwad Gita/ etc. deserve a similar (and possibly assisted and unprejudiced) reading to fully and completely understand their meaning. The characters' portrayal of circumstances, options and interpretations available, quandaries they're in, and their choice of resultant actions haven't been shown to be infallible and is as real a conundrum as it would be for a common man - that takes away any notion of it's portrayal as a high-brow spiritual/ religious/ philosophical scripture, and it would be rare to find such character in any recorded philosophy on life. There are many conversations around the theme on Quora, including around Vedas/ Upanishads/ etc., perhaps you'd like to visit those if the topic interests you?
Thanks for what made for an very evocative reading! :-)
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