REAL FACE OF A CIVILIZED SOCIETY
REAL FACE OF A CIVILIZED SOCIETY
Once I had a casual chat with a friend of mine who had come to
Chennai for a holiday from the U.S. where he is employed. He
boastfully mentioned so many good things happening there which are all
conspicuously absent in India. Said he, “Indians don’t follow the rules of the
road properly. In the U.S., people consider it as more sacrosanct to
follow the rules than as a mere formality or for compulsion. They would conscientiously and meticulously follow rules -maintenance of speed, lane discipline, parking,
signals, etc. None would sound a big horn while driving a vehicle as Americans deem it an
insult to their own honour and dignity to do so and make others exasperated. But
here in India things are amiss and awry”. I didn’t react till I had
an opportunity to go along with him in a two-wheeler as a pillion rider while in a
traffic-laden junction he made use of his ear-blasting hooter longer than
necessary. When I questioned him disapprovingly, he countered me thus,
“These people understand things if only taught in their own language”.
Nonplussed, I recalled the adage for what it was worth, “When in Rome, do
as the Romans do!” It is a different matter, however, that in India sounding a
big horn is the norm for some even without any justification.
Again, I had an opportunity to receive a distant relative at the airport returning from Singapore where he has been living for decades. I had often listened
to him saying, “In Singapore, the rubber mixed tar roads would be clean,
smooth and glossy. You can’t litter or spit anywhere; if you do either,
you are sure to be heavily fined.” But alas, the very same person, who had the habit
of chewing ‘betel nuts/leaves’, had no penitence or compunction to spit the red
cud onto the road once he was out of the airport. My conscience stirred up to ask myself, "how does a
person well-behaved with the right civic sense while in Singapore makes a complete U-turn in his motherland? “Why this apathy, hypocrisy, and farce”, I mumbled!
Time-conscious Japanese are well known for their alacrity and industriousness. They would never chitchat or gossip. One of my friends living in Japan for a long time has been giving me feedback from time to time about many good characteristics, traits and values nurtured by the Japanese. They are an earnest, diligent, painstaking, and tenacious lot. Whenever two Japanese met, they greeted each other saying ‘Kaizen’ meaning ‘change for the better’ or ‘continuous improvement' (of working practices, personal efficiency, et al., as guiding philosophy’). Rattled and shattered as they were by the macabre ill-consequences of the nuclear catastrophe consequent on the U.S. dropping atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II (6-9 August 1945), the Japanese knew what a nuclear holocaust is all about and what it takes to rebuild the completely destructed and devastated infrastructure for national re-construction. ‘Strike’ is anathema to them. Even if they were to go on a strike as rarest of a rare case, they would adopt novel methods. For example, in a Shoe factory, striking workers would go on manufacturing either ‘left-leg shoes’ or ‘right-leg shoes’ only, so that once the strike is called off they could complete the unfinished half job of making the other leg shoes to save precious time and quickly send them to sale market. Strike over, they would do even overtime.
In progressive societies the world over, differently-abled are not
differentiated and are treated as normal persons. There, people mingle and
interact with them freely extending a helping hand. Differently-abled and
psychologically and visually challenged want empathy, not lip-sympathy. The government
authorities, organizations, and the society at large there consider it as a collective social
responsibility to empower them on par with all other normal citizens. Contrarily,
in India, they are given a contemptuous look, scornful glimpse, and scant attention.
They are strangely gazed at with disdain as though they are a jinxed lot! Actually, they need supportive gestures, affectionate dispositions, and friendly care. People
look differently even the persons accompanying the special persons. Still
worse, such people are nicknamed, an abhorrent and odious practice bordering on an old school of thought. There is need for a change of the retrograde societal psyche for the
better besides suitable efforts of the governmental and non-governmental agencies in
amelioration of their lives and welfare.
People should therefore follow
good welfare practices. Then only there will be meaning in calling ourselves a
‘full-fledged civilized society.’
R.SAMPATH
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