Indian Thingy

There are few traits/values that are common to most of us (Indians) and I see them deeply rooted in our society. This applies to me as well. I have been making effort to overcome these shortcomings and continue to improve myself. Here is the list,

Punishing Kith and Kin: This news piece is one example of this trait. When someone commits crime and when people are in a position unable to punish the concerned person (due to unavailability or something), they immediately turn to their immediate relatives. This is seen in family (joint) system as well. When a group of people in a family hate some aunt/uncle, most of them would hurl abuse/tease not just them but their immediate family etc. The reason for this as I see is, in some parts of Indian philosophy, we believe that one’s sin (or Karma) would be transferred to their offspring and future generation. So, I feel this is the reason, one tends to punish someone’s immediate relatives (say son or daughter) as they have inherited his/her Karma.

Snap Judgement: May be this not specific Indian trait. But, I see more often here. We tend to judge someone’s character just by observing for a moment (or a short period). There is an ocean of difference in me in the past couple of years. People who saw me in college days cannot predict my actions now. But most of my friends still judge me by what they saw in college days. I find myself doing this very often. And I am making sincere effort to overcome this.

Closed mind: Ah, this is a group of people who can be seen in debate shows like Neeya Naana (Star Vijay). They come with some preconceived notion and would refuse to change their mind, regardless of the rational arguments we give. I have seen many of colleagues (esp the ones from small towns / villages), who refuse to understand the pros of metro life. They just keep criticizing the “typical” Bangalore metro citizens for no good reason. I try to change them and in most of the cases, I just stop talking to them.

In every culture of the World, there are some pros and cons and it is up to us to decide which suits our needs/lifestyles. There is no point in closing our mind and keep praising our “so called” Indian values.

Phew

I have been working continuously for the past 2 weeks without any break. It was so tiring and irritating. All along, this dialog from Die Hard 4.0 kept popping up in my mind, “All you gotta do is go pick up a kid down in New Jersey, and drive him down to D.C. How hard can that be, huh?” ..But development job is not so, the work keeps growing…..The release date is here and we somehow packed something and sending it to client. Rest of the worries later. It never gonna end….
When stock markets tumble and equity returns are in the negative terrain, people tend to opt for good old investment arenas like FD, NSC, PPF etc. Same way, during these stressful times I am always attracted to government jobs. Though no one works in government in my family, I have seen quite a few people working in government jobs and have observed their work style. I could list the following reasons for this attraction.

Fear of Job Loss – There is nothing so scary like being out of job for a spendthrift like me. Retrenchment is everywhere and jobs have dried up.  I honestly envy government employees who continue to survive and thrive even if they are part of loss making organizations.

Unable to spend time with family and friends – One of my friend’s mom works in BSNL. She goes to office at 8.30 and comes back at 6. And she manages to come to home during lunch time and prepare lunch as well ( I appreciate the love she has for her family). But, it really makes me jealous to see them spending most of time with their family.

But hey, its the same government job I was criticizing for red tapism, redundancy, corruption and what not. This fear is short living. Ha, It slipped my mind…