I was doing a really really loud thinking about why our country cannot improve…hubby was giving his insights…..and we reached a conclusion that the system is a circle and it is next to impossible to cut it ….
I am putting down all those thoughts into this blog….Its more than just thoughts….it is venting out my frustration….
I always think how I can contribute to make this world a better place. I don’t want to do big things…. I try to do small day to day stuff that would help. There are a lot of things that I feel people can do to make this world a better place. But if I tell people ….it is never taken. So I have always believed that one must lead by example.
The first thing that we started off really early was not throwing dirt on the roads. When we went for picnics we carried our own dustbin bags. We dint let our parents or friends throw chocolate wraps on the streets….by we I mean me and my sis.
Next we took up non usage of plastic covers. We forced parents to carry bags with them when they went to shopping. We sometimes carried stuff in our palms when we forgot to take bags…..we are still not 100% there….we could still improve…
It is not really difficult to do these things. It is just a matter of getting used to. Calcutta has a strict ule of no plastic bags…..aren’t people living there. Aren’t they following? That too in our own country with similar culture so that comparison makes sense to everyone….
Let me start with aspects that made me do this loud thinking…it was not just one trigger….it was accumulated frustration
The other day I was in a big saree shop which gave me one cover for the saree, one for the kumkum and all that put into a big cloth bag. I told the shop owner (while returning the plastic bag)that he should avoid plastic and must give stuff only in the cloth bag which he was giving anyways…..he said “we tried that….but people in bangalore frown. They don’t like to take one cloth bags…so…”
I was amazed….and ashamed. Bangalore is such a city which has a high educated population (or I would call it literate)…..the people who could afford sarees in that shop I am sure are having schooling and college background…..and these people don’t like cloth bags…they prefer plastic. That’s the level of education that our systems impart
This is one aspect…..
We were on our way to office and there was this water tanker parked right in the middle of the road. We could not get through. We honked…asked people about the driver of the lorry….most people sat there even without answering…
After 2 to 3 mins we got to know that one of those people who were sitting without answering was the driver. We asked him to move the vehicle. …
He was a man of maybe 5ft….thinner than a stick…he comes up….tries to push the heavy tanker (which he obviously could not)…and then looks at us…and just shrugs and goes away….
After all this drama…we had to reverse and take some other funny road to the office.
That irresponsible guy got away so easily……that was the most irresponsible behavior one could have….but he got away fine…
This added to our frustration….
We have these very nice neighbours….who daily sweep up their house and throw all the dust right in front of the house. We stay opposite to them and so that makes it front of our house also. Ours is the last house on the row and the road ends there with a huge wall. So they also take the pleasure of using the road end as a dump yard. wheels, beds, sheets, clothes…name it and you will find it there. One day I saw then throw dust and told them in a nice manner that maybe they could put all the dust in a container and leave it for the dirt picking van to take it. They nodded. But then they just continued with what they did. This made us a little aggressive. So we went and told them that they should not be dirtying the place like this….you know what they said ?? “ this is the road. It is for the public. We can do anything here. You have no rights to question us. We are not doing anything inside your house. So, mind your own business”.
That is when we started noticing…that most people in the area were throwing dirt right onto the road…and I still don’t understand how one can throw the dirt in front of one’s own house
There is one lady here who washes clothes right next to this dirt thrown…. I still have a question due… I want to ask her if she is fulfilling a formality by washing those clothes as she is spending so much of effort and doing nothing but gathering not only dirt…but the germs that have developed due to the dirt being accumulated for a long time.
This is surprising and saddening……
I have friends who ridicule the fact that we should put off computers in office before going home……ridicule the fact that I wanted to use an electric vehicle just to be non polluting….ridicule the fact that many of them don’t take print outs to save paper…ridicule the fact that using hand kerchief instead of tissues is a good way to save paper….ridicule non usage of plastics….ridicule when I say don’t throw that paper on the street….and do it on purpose so that I get irritated……and all these people are educated ….very well educated……working in IT….
These are the same people who would go to Germany and not throw a single paper on the street….who would admire the Germans coming to office in Bicycles (included highly ranked people in the company)….who praise the fact that germany has separate dustbins for different kinds of garbage…..who are part of sustainability projects…
I say India is so bad today….and 50% of the fault is of these kind of people…. They are directly responsible for this.
This troubles me most as I see the highly educated like this….and if this is the way education turns us….then even God cannot help…..
I always that that China is much more populated than India…but they are able to achieve so much….why ant we. I always felt that education was the problem. We have a high percentage of uneducated population. But if this is what education does to us….then there is no point investing there….
Then we must go back and change the education system. Children must be taught from young age about environmental friendliness. They must be taught how they can help the country….this is more important than history and geography….
But no…most parents will sue such schools….because this will make children rebel at home (because most parents love to take plastic bags…go to big shopping malls…..buy the biggest car with lowest fuel efficiency….I can go on…)
Parents want children to go to school and learn to swim,dance, sing…..but no one wants children to be better human beings. …and if I say I want my child to be a better human being….then my child will lose out in the race….survival of the fittest works here too….so I am scared. I also will follow the mass….this is how our education system is…
If a school says I will make your child the best human being…pay me a fee of 50 thousand Rs a year…and if another school says I will turn your child into a little champ by teaching all these extracurricular activities….then most parents these days don’t even bother to ask how much would u charge… The school that said about the child being a human being would just get phased out. That’s the education today…
Today we are not even supposed to question children at school….if a child does not study well the teacher has no rights to ask why….because the children it seems are being burdened…. I still don’t know with what?…I feel it is trying to teach the child every single extracurricular activity….come on…not every child can be a champ in singing, dancing, swimming karate,yoga,reading…..so many more. It is the parents and the system that is putting the pressure. But we don’t let the teachers do their job. If you don’t question a child for anything…then you might as well not send the child to school….why waste the money…
We have a tracking system called appraisals even at this age in office…but schools say no more exams…..don’t people understand that you are just passing the bug…the schools come out safe. But once the child is into the world….competition is going to be three. If the child has never ever experienced it how will it survive….
These days suicide is another very easy thing….”12 year od commits suicide”… I don’t know if I knew how to spell that word then at that age….this is our education…it now teaches how to suicide at a much younger age…
Children should start learning pure sciences…all in practical ways. They should have subjects…but should start specializing from a very early age…..today’s attraction is only In BE because that’s the way to get into IT…why IT…because it pays the most..I am in IT too… but I say…reduce salaries there….pay high in pure sciences….encourage research on natural sources of energy…monitor how it comes….who will do all this…?
Government should do it….but no…they are busy….eating up money…having slippers thrown at them….sleeping on the roads doing dharna….sending people around to burn down buses…..
And all this they do in whose money? Mine and yours…..
It is the middle class ultimately who is the loser….and the pinch is felt by those who have a lot of commitments on their money.
I may earn a certain amount…but I have no responsibility…s o I don’t care what money goes as tax….
But when I have a lot of responsibilities… I now care….
The lower earning people don’t pay tax….but they too enjoy our roads and infrastructure (no offenses….just stating fact…)…. There are lot of wealthy people in business…in politics and various other professions… who do not pay tax (no offenses against anyone in particular)…or do not pay the right amount of tax…
It is employed class who pays tax correctly….and at the end of the day does not get much from the government….and what do we do?? Crib…..
There are many rich people who are responsible… I know many of my dad’s friends who actually put their money to good use like running juvenile homes(let me tell u….its not an easy job)…
a better famous example would be Infosys giving its employees the facility where they can do social work for a year and also be paid salary during that time…..
These are examples to follow…..
I would rather pay my tax as salary to a person who goes to a village….teaches people better farming…scientific methods…(need not be an agricultural engg…people can be trained for anything)….give this guy all facilities in the village and also got settlement for his family and make him feel like he is onsite…. I am sure there would be many people who would like to go at least if the money is good.
Encourage people to stay in villages and not go out. Make them get better output of their farming…..do it like a project in the office. The appraisal would be based on the outputs produced….
Use project management skills….
Make it such that every year we reduce our import of food grains and other stuff…our economy will automatically improve
Get people to study pure sciences…get people who are civil engineers to come up with a beautiful plan to solve the water crisis by building right type of dams and canals. Get people to study and find out how they can solve the long standing Cauvery issue….
Give them good perks….
Get private companies to do policing…
Start small. Do it in one part of pone town. Say if anyone threw paper on the street he pays 50 rs fine….and if he is caught more than twice…then he needs to go to the police station….have private companies do this…pay the people who are policing very high…
It won’t work…I’ll tell u why…there will be there rich sons of rich fathers who would come down and make mischief and get into gunda fights if they were fined…so people will be scared….
So….many people felt…best way to get out of this nonsense is to go and settle abroad…they did so…and they never came back…
It is no brain drain….it is frustration drain.
I don’t justify that people who go away are doing the right thing….
But me being here….trying a lot… I am not able to do anything….so I feel like getting away too!!
This is not the end of the things that I think about….but this is all I could get into words. I always try thinking how I can help here and how I can fit in….to be honest… I end up feeling helpless most of the time.
I know I can go and give a police complaint about my neighbours…and can do a lot of similar stuff…but let me tell you… I am an average person. I am scared. I am no hero… I am scared that I will get into gundaism… I am scared people will follow me… I am scared… so I will not do that.
I want to do things and change the world like Gandhi…non-violence…but that does not really work so well …..because then I have to face a jallianwala bagh…which I cannot do… I am scared
I feel bad and helpless…..about my situation and about myself….
What I try to do is….still do the little things that I can….and try to pen down these kind of thoughts so that it might kindle similar emotions in someone who might read it and maybe they also try to make small changes…..and I hope that in time…things will fall in place.
I love my country….and I have a vision for it…..I don’t know if I will see it that way even if I am born more than once….
November 4th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
i think that once in a while, we should do some social works too because we should help other people.