"Maids not allowed"

As some of you might know that I have changed my job and moved to India from the US. After having stayed for a year in the US, the first few days back in India were a bit difficult. I have spent my entire life in India and probably I should not crib like a first time return NRI. But I never really realized the shortcomings of living in India until I had lived in the US. It was an eye-opener. I strongly believe that India is a great country and every Indian has a thousand things to be proud of. But there are some things that bother me and I sincerely hope they change in my lifetime.

I think Indians have not truly gotten over the age old caste system. Today also, the respect we give to a person largely depends on his economic, social, racial and regional status. I was taken aback by a sign board on a restroom in a prestigious club in South Bombay reading, "Maids not allowed". This discrimination on economic and professional basis is a fair ground to sue the club in my opinion. People from backward sections are ill-treated, discriminated against and paid minimal wages that fail to ensure a decent quality of life. Our society is not a flat and fair one where all members deserve equal rights and respect, but rather it is a hierarchical society where god men sit at the top along with the super rich and powerful people who might have amassed their wealth through corruption. We do not judge a person by his values and ideas, but by factors which might be beyond his control. People think it is perfectly fine to ask others a personal question like what their salary is as they subconsciously or in most cases consciously want to judge them based on how many mulahs they earn. This is a country where a film star doesn't think twice before misbehaving with a security man doing his job and where a policeman cannot dare to arrest a politician. In contrast, in the US, a policeman has the power and courage to arrest even the mayor of a city. In a room full of people from all walks of life, the one who gets most respect is one who has the highest thoughts, or in the case of US, one who has the best sense of humor and not the most affluent person.

India is a country of few resources and huge demand. When 1.2 billion people compete for scarce resources, they tend to get desperate and begin to care less for values and ethics. Signs such as breaking queues, paying bribes, taking shortcuts, corruption etc. all point to this. In this competitive space, regard for a fellow being and values are of minimal importance; the main concern is survival and obtaining those sought after resources. Highly imbalanced wages in the working population and concentration of power to a small section of people seem to be ways to articulate the scant resources to a privileged few. People sometimes get so desperate in their struggles that they do not even stop and give help to a person injured in a road accident or even fail to give way to a passing ambulance.

India is a place of strong cultural heritage and has given birth to major religions, schools of high thoughts and great and inspirational men and women. We need to look within and think hard on where we are going and what have become of our core values.

India - My home

The crowd, the noise, the peeking-into-neighbors'-personal-matters, the flies, the mosquitoes, the dirt, the scorching sun, the simple but street smart people - I am going to miss them all! I have lived in Europe and America for sometime and am fully aware of the million reasons why Indians flock there. But just like any other form of love, the love for one's country does not overlook the shortcomings, but rather celebrates them. I am set to go to the US for possibly next four years (at least). I still cannot imagine how will rains be as delightful as they are in India on speck-free roads of the US without creating the muddy mess, how will driving be so enjoyable with the lane system and no cutting paths and finding shortcuts, how will I be able to spend the festival days in the US away from my family and how will I feel missing my friends' weddings because I cannot come to India.

I have talked to people who have returned back to India after spending many years in US. The reason they give for returning is none of the above; it is for the family.

P.S. I am currently reading Shantaram and have fallen in love again with Bombay.

(Written before leaving for US)

Real World

It has been around a year since I last blogged. I graduated from college and stepped into the so called "real world". A lot has changed since then; my outlook, some relationships, my country of residence, my work etc. and one post is not enough to capture it all. There are things which I hold on to that luckily haven't changed much, at least not yet. It seems the "real" in "real world" stands for the real problems that people face, as opposed to the seemingly big, but actually shallow problems they face in schools and colleges. A big part of stepping into the real world is taking responsibility towards one's family, work, career and in later stages kids. It is easy (or difficult from someone else's point of view) to live an isolated life, without any constraints or responsibilities. Growing up means sometimes keeping your own priorities below others', doing things you might not like much but have to do nevertheless and being accountable.

Real world also means you have power; biggest of which is the power of choice. You can choose what to buy, where to work, with whom to hang out with, who to care about, where to spend time etc. This gives us the power over our life; we sit in the driving seat of our life. We even have power over the company we work at; we have the power to change it for good or bad. We have power over the people we interact with. We have power over our relationships. We have power over our money and time. The real in 'real world' does stand for the real problems but rather real power. We need to be aware of this power and accept the responsibility that comes with it. Greatness comes from acquiring, nurturing and living up to the expectations of great power. When dealing with the intricacies of this power and responsibility, we are alone. We do not have teachers and parents to tell us what to do and how to do it. Yes, we do have the support of our mentors, friends and family, but beyond a certain point, we are alone. We are free to make our own choices and live their consequences. We learn to be independent. Real world tests our real self. The real world (and not the test results of various exams) is the real test of how well we were trained in our "non-real" world. An achievement is lot more sweeter and a failure lot more painful in the real world as they both stem from independent selves. The true support comes from within, from knowing one self, one's strengths, weaknesses, dreams, passions, fears, desires and powers.