We the People - And the "Kucch nahin ho sakta" syndrome.

                            How many times have you heard this pet hindustani paraphrase "Kya Karein???" a.k.a "Kucch nahi kar sakte" a.k.a "Kucch nahin ho sakta".Let me be more clear-cut, how many times have you uttered this.What!.....................lost the count, haven't you? Useless government-Kucch nahin ho sakta, exorbitant fees-Kucch nahin ho sakta, bad roads-Kucch nahin ho sakta, no electricity-Kucch nahin ho sakta, bomb blasts-Kucch nahin ho sakta........the list is endless.If you want an answer as to why India, after 60 years of independence and with an unparalleled storehouse of human resources, struggles to become a First World Country, just read the Italicized words carefully.It is because of you...............and me.....................and everybody around us, that we are in such a sorry state.Yet, after heartily slandering and blaming all the man-made and natural forces around us, we go to bed as a contented being-"Kya Karein, Kucch nahi kar sakte???"

                              The problem is in our outlook and to an extent in our social upbringing - An upbringing of escapism,hopelessness and adjustment.We have learnt that if the environment is not conducive then- step1>Stay calm, step 2> close your eyes, step 3> turn around and the final step> find the quickest way to the patliest gali to get out. OR. Single shot solution- adjust with them. Have you seen "A Wednesday???" Naserrudin Shah in his conversation with Anupam Kher points out a congenital discrepency in our charaters - We learn to adjust or adapt too fast.Electricity-adapt,water-adapt, and now bomb blasts-adapt.Change does not come till we desire it , and it's a popular notion that Indians are very resistive to change.Change is......errrr...............boooooooooooooooooring????? How about a story.Yes!,thats a good idea, let's see HOW THINGS CHANGE with a story instead of this insipid essay.......................hopefully in my next Blog post!

Story of the Indian Average II - The Six Stigma

                           Ever heard of Six Sigma,the worlds foremost certification for efficient management, I bet you have! We have something thats conversely true for the modern indian society- the Six Stigma-the worlds foremost certification for disparaging an individual from choosing careers that should not be chosen (Note:According to social status and demand).A typical scenario is like this:

Indian Average: "I wanna do M.A. in English Literature dad"

Dad:"Are you out of your mind! What will you eat? You are not that poor in studies that you need to go into arts."

Indian Average: "But I like studying English.Maybe I'll get to go to Oxford one day."

Dad:"bada aaya shakespeare ki aulad!(Look here comes the heir of shakespeare!)How are you gonna survive.Nobody will marry you.Ye ladka khandaan ka naam kharab karega.(This boy will spoil the name of the family) What will people say!"

Indian Average:"But......."

Dad:"You are going into Engineering and that's it.No more arguments."

                              And then starts the vicious cycle.........a cycle than can stretch over 6 continents.I would be wrong in saying that everyone wants to go to America but a majority does.I don't want to criticize them, no, but I just want to know what they learn from America, rather, the Americans.They learn how to earn money,they learn to flirt,they learn to walk naked on beaches of Acapulco,they learn everything that they shouldn't, but are unable to learn what they should.They don't learn the feeling of respect towards their motherland,they don't learn to raise their voices against injustice,they don't learn to have social responsibility.Remember, that America too was once an under-developed country.They developed because of collective responsibility.In the past 60 years they have reached Mars .Even after 60 years we are still unable to wipe the tears of the poor.This is the principle difference between us and Americans.

                         Coming back to the Indian average guy and the Six Stigma.I call it a six stigma because our society tends to attach a social stigma with anything and everything.The first victim is you.If you want to pursue arts or any other hatke profession,the social reaction will be "ohhh him.......he is a good for nothing.......pursuing arts somewhere." (Another cultural learning we need from America is dignity of work and labour.)

                          With this we can understand the perspective of being average.We have to understand that everyone is a performer in one task but average in others.To get the best out of people we have to recognize their talent and not just degrees, a task in which we horribly fail.For developing a country we don't need intelligensia, but dedication.People caught in the wrong jobs or the wrong career cannot dedicate themselves for the benefit of the society.To an extent parents are also responsible for this.For social status and standing we tend to nurture and be nurtured by them, in a dream to get to foreign lands.If we want to see India as a developed country we have to stop this readymade outlook.Growth cannot be achieved in the lap of luxury.Go to the USA, Europe, Japan, etc........learn their qualities, learn the dignity of labour, learn how vocational courses can be more important than engineering or doctory,learn what social awareness is and apply it. If passion drives profession,profession becomes a bliss.True efforts never go waste and half hearted efforts never count.Unfortunately,the thing's bitter to speak and hard to achieve, but still not impossible.As an M.B.A aspirant myself,I have thought over the issue.It took 6 months and a job-offer rejection for me, to figure out what I wanted to do and why I wanted to do it.

                                 Now is not the right time to disclose anything, but soon enough I will and believe me, the task may help us shape a better future.Stay tuned .Chow!

                

Story of The Indian Average

                         Many of you must be thinking about this silly name, "Me,Tea & Society", aren't you? This is not just a name, rather the definition of my life ......the life of an average person who's  shuttling between his dreams...ahhhh no!....not dreams...ummm....visions! yeah visions,this sounds good! so, shuttling between his visions, a sometimes friend and sometimes fiend society, and (his armory) cups of tea. 

                          This blog will give you  a peek into the life of an average person.........(average person??? Who wants to know about average people?) his thoughts, his ideas (afterall I am the writer of this blog).Well, my friend if you would have understood what average is, you would have become Gautam Buddha by now.He died, or should I say, became immortal teaching us the art of becoming average.Let's just try to have a look what the Indian Average is:

                          When you are in India, being average is as good as being dead.Every single person and every single parent views his son/daughter as the avant garde heir of their family lineage,(preferrably settled in America). People, like you an me, are sucked into a grotesque gruelling machine, known as "Career".I am not discouraging you to pursue a career....no! no!......not at all! What I am talking about, is the career that you pursue on behalf of your parents, and also for the society that you live in.

                          The typical life track for educated Indian teens, professed and implemented even before their birth is:

                       School->Junior college->engineer->MBA or MS ->America->Life Successful!                                             (If any Americans are reading this,probably now they will understand why every tom,dick and harry from India comes to their country for education.Note for Indians:Sorry mates, no offence!)

                          Why America???........well, you don't remain average after that.You become a Non-Resident Indian man. You get all the good girls to marry plus big dowry plus status plus resplendent visages of your parents, and that's so fucking cool! Afterall, for us (excluding a few imbeciles like me!) Money is God and America is Heaven,and we all want to leave for the heavenly abode,don't we?(LOL!)

                           What we forget, is that in this rat-race, we gain the world but we loose ourselves.The pursuit of intelligence makes us loose the innocence.In the world of cut throat competition we become a mercenary,who will slit the throats of anybody and everybody coming between him and his success, but it will be just a matter of time before somebody comes and slits his own throat.Rather than earn and learn we earn and burn, and the ones who don't are the imbeciles like the ones in the bracket.This is the story of the average Indian.........a good-for-nothing of the society.