Here's What Sucks About Indians

I am very angry today. And it's not personal anymore. For all the great things about us Indians, there is some pretty crappy stuff too. I know a lot of people are going to jump up and add their point of views here. Go on, be my guest.

I have never left this country - so much so, I have not even been to Bhutan, where apparently, you do not even need a passport to go. I have never been to Sri Lanka. Heck, I have never been to the Andamans! But I seem to be surrounded by people who have had several foreign trips stashed away in their list of experiences. And from what I hear, a greater part of the developed world is not just developed materially, but they are also developed mentally.

There is an inherent respect for the pedestrian, shop owners are not painful when it comes to returns policy and exchange, people are generally very helpful. P wondered aloud this morning, why its that way in developed nations. Why is everybody behaving in the right way, why does everybody have civic sense instilled in them. No, he does not mean that they do not have crime rates, that they do not know petty politics or that they are doing everything right.

But the basics? Here I am, paying taxes, walking on roads full of potholes, following all traffic rules just to have my car dented by a moron who has a license and thinks that therefore, the road belongs to him, and still goes scot-free. Here I am, working for a greater part of my working hours where it takes forever for merit to get recognised and rewarded. Here I am, putting up with power cuts, erratic water supply, slow internet speeds, phone lines that go dead and pollution so thick, I can hardly breathe. With all these basic problems that I face everyday, who would want to be helpful and content and kind?

Why is this happening? Because we have people in positions of power that are too busy filling up their own treasuries, because we are too tired after earning our daily bread to bother protesting, because we flout rules and feel proud about bending them, apparently, it makes us seem cool. For these short term gains, here are the questions we are forgetting to ask ourselves...

How much brain does it require to see that pollution kills so it needs to be curtailed this way or that? How much brain does it take to realise that if we all followed traffic rules, we would get to our destinations faster and in one whole living piece? How much education does it require to understand that littering is a heinous crime against the earth you occupy space on?

How many grey cells does it take to understand that petty politics may get you favours from your current boss but you are going to be a nobody capable of ass-licking alone anywhere outside of your current job roles? And really, how much intelligence do you need to see that a business is not about numbers, it is about people?

I am making a serious allegation here - I THINK INDIANS IN GENERAL NEITHER HAVE CIVIC SENSE NOR DO THEY EXHIBIT A DEVELOPED SENSE OF WORK ETHIC.

Officially, from today, I am declaring myself. I no longer blame educated Indians for settling down abroad. Essentially, it is easy to debate and say, hell, where did your patriotic streak go, be the change you wish to see, etc etc. My primary argument right now is this - with all the awesomeness I and my friends are exhibiting, what guarantee do I have that in this very lifetime, I will be able to live and breathe in a cleaner, greener India, where merit is recognized, where great work is rewarded, where the earth and its issues are taken seriously? Where I will not be part of the minority that is putting in efforts? Where people will finally wake up and see that things need to be done together for a system to work and move ahead?

Until then, it is okay for all of them people to fly away, find themselves lives that they feel are rewarding and fulfilling and enriching in every way. Be it in the US, in Tel Aviv, in Dubai, in Singapore, in United Kingdom, or anywhere else. All of you are selfish individuals, which is the final truth about all of us - at least, you have the guts and knowledge to acknowledge it and make your life out into what you want it to be.

Unlike this complaining lot of uncouth, educated vermin that breeds here, eloquent and well-read and therefore very dangerous, for it is this species that is going to sap all life out of this nation that has the potential of otherwise being so much more than anybody ever imagined. These people are dangerous because they can give you hour long lectures on exactly what is wrong, all the while being clueless about how to fix it. Even worse, sometimes they know how to fix it but will not take one step towards the right thing.

And before you jump up to say - but you can join politics, you can become the CEO and change work ethics, and you can join an NGO, stop a second. I am not saying those efforts are worthless. I am just saying its going to take forever, it is not going to happen anytime soon and baby...some of us are just too impatient to wait around. Some of us want to live NOW. Some of us do not want to live hoping for a better tomorrow.

Dear Indians, living in India - you have over-evolved and now it is just plain decay. You have no civic sense, no sense of professional ethics, no sense of importance for what really deserves attention, you think you can get away with anything but unfortunately, it is you who pays everyday for being the lesser mortal that you are choosing to be. It's just plain unfortunate. And I really, really feel bad for you.