Are Indians brilliant?

WHICH IS THE WAY WE BRUSH OUR TEETH?

I happened to converse with a US based Pakistani married to an Indian girl and now settled in Washington DC. He visits India frequently to train Indian IT executives. A question he asked me perplexed me.

WHICH IS THE WAY WE BRUSH OUR TEETH?

‘You know Ravi. India is a great country with enormous talent — I can say that from personal experience. But why oh why do I walk into a class of I.T executives and all of them stand up and shout ‘Good morning sir’ in a tune reminiscent of the nursery rhyme. ‘This is the way we brush our teeth’. I was embarrassed. 'It’s almost like KG class’ he added much to my discomfiture.

I tried to put up a brave face and retaliated that as a veteran trainer I have never had such an experience. ‘Is it likely that I am treated that way because I am a foreigner?’ he asked.

I refrained from telling him that as far as I knew Indians hardly consider people from Pakistan or Bangladesh as foreigners! That term is usually reserved for white skinned people.

I felt that the boot was on the other foot when a cricketer from Pakistan told the media that he found it irksome to constantly tell the cricketing authorities there ‘yes sir, yes sir’ [reminiscent of another nursery rhyme] to every statement that they made. Unable to countenance this feudalism he left that country, migrated to Holland, and now plays for that country at the ongoing World Cup.

Sociologists tell us that across most of Asia, one finds a hierarchical society where deference to elders or those higher in a hierarchy is expected. ‘Age’ in itself is considered an index of wisdom and anyone so much as differing from the ‘seniors’ is considered a rebel and meets his comeuppance.

One consequence of this deference to age is that people tend to rise to top positions only at an advanced age when that person’s capacity to generate fresh ideas or respond enthusiastically to them is likely to be small. A journalist remarked that a good proportion of the Union Cabinet enters the cabinet meetings in a wheelchair.

When are we likely to hear that a top minister is on leave because his wife is in the labour room? I am not referring to the minister’s room in the Labour Ministry. A former British Prime Minister had a child AFTER he became PM!

There is a whole body of research on the differences in thinking and behavior of Asians especially Indians.

I end with a recent discovery that I made about life in our country.

A man obtains a Pilot’s license on the basis of a fake mark sheet where his poor marks have been doctored. When he makes a dangerous landing violating every rule in the book he is dismissed. It turns out the DGCA license is fake. The mark sheet issued by the Training academy is found to be doctored. When caught, he is approached by a tout who promises to get him a genuine mark sheet suitably doctored so that the authorities have to believe in its authenticity and issue a fresh, genuine license. When this tout turns out to be a fake, the man complains to the police. The police station turns out to be a fake. He files a case in a court and this court also turns out to be a... The fake tout has complained to the police that the fake pilot has paid him in fake currency notes...The list is long but proves what my Pakistani friend said at the outset.

INDIANS ARE TALENTED INDEED!

K.R.RAVI

www.krravi.com

P.S WHAT I WRITE IS TRUE AS WELL AS TONGUE IN CHEEK, NO OFFENCE MEANT.