some of the biggest skycrapers drape the skies of this city, home to arguably the biggest melee of people from every part of the country, abode of the numerous cinestars, the financial capital of India, the city where everyone comes to make it "BIG" in life (including MBAs like us), city of the Slumdog Millionaire, escape of some of the most notorious dons ever seen, and the head quarters of the biggest business houses... the aamchi Mumbai!!!
this city has never stopped to create an awe in the minds of the people and inspired a many villagers to come here in search of doing something worthwhile, away from the sleepy towns and villages that throng the very heart of India... but in all this melange we all somehow tend to lose our sense of belonging and the culture, that we inadvertantly carry, and get immersed in the huge sea of people that one sees incessantly climbing in and out of the local trains, BEST buses and the black and yellow "Padminis"...
we are very happy in losing our sense of individuality and the essesnce that makes us different from every other human being and embrace what is called as "selective indifference"... we pride ourselves in the fact that we mingle so very well in the crowd of millions that no one can tell the difference between an Executive in an MNC, a sportsman (lest he is a cricketer!!), a small time goon, a labourer from any god forbidden place in India, a doctor or a lawyer or whosoever he/ she maybe, some local tv model or an aam Mumbai Manoos...
for all this time that i have been in mumbvai, i have been trying to decipher the exact cause of this inherent indifference exhibited by all but in vain... however the most disturbing thing i witnessed on the roads and the trains that that of been gross ignorance of civility in the people here...
everyone around is in so much of a hurry; hurry to get to the office, hurry to get to the home, hurry to catch a movie or a date etc etc... that we have leisurely allowed us to forget all the good behaviours that we happend to learn in the school... some very basic has been giving respect to the other person around you...
you will see scores of women, elderly people and young children standing for hours together in a bus or a local train for that matter with the youngsters and males like us easily sitting and being a mute spectator to all happening around... at any instance they would not leave the opportunity to park their back sides on the comfortable seats little realizing that the person standing right next to you my need the place more than you do!! that the little kid hanging on his mother's arm may need to rest and take a breather more than anyone else around... or that the elderly man on the other end of the bus may actually be so tired that he could just about faint...
but then we all want our comforts, the luxuries in whatever small or big way... hesitant to give up the cosy seats for the discomfort of our legs... so, there it goes again...
the same cycle is repeated day in and day out in arguably every part of the city... and this is not the case with lesser educated and the labour class people... even very highly educated people; people who work in MNCs, public offices, eduactionists, lawyers, doctors etc etc too are a part of this whole system... and i kind of feel pathetic for highly educated people (many of whom are MBAs from some of the premier institutes of the country) following suit rather than set examples for others to follow...
such shoddy and downtrodden has become the mindset of ours that we believe in being a part of the whole rat race and winning it as well because we feel its the only way to get of the system and make a way for us in this brother-kill-brother market place... little do we realize that this is what we had pledged not to do some many years ago... we easily tend to forget and ignore all the times when similar cases had happened with us and our loved ones and how we had taken up the view to set some of these things right... but we forget the same when we are in the same situations that makes us take a stand...
i feel ashamed to say all this and even more to see this happen blatantly every single day of my life... but this is how things have become and there is a very little scope for improvement because like the way it has become, it is going to degrade from here and not improve any further...
i guess its time that something like a "Tata Tea's Jaagore" is rolled out to teach the people what basic civility means and how we have easily forgotten all about it... i think that instead of throwing labourers out of Maharashtra and trying to create a north-south political divide, our worthless politicians could stand up and take note of such acts that work towards greater human values and virtues...
ps: the above views are my personal and do not ascribe to any particular sect, region, religion, caste, sex or any such which can be mis-interpreted by all and sundry.
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