As a school going kid I had studied about the Indus Valley Civilization, how an advanced human community formed a life worth living. Coming back to current times there is barely anything civilized left in our country. Be it pushing and pulling to get into a bus or pepper spraying in the parliament, we Indians just don't like to behave. Now I am not saying every single Indian is ill-mannered but I do say that we tend to take our conduct lightly. And we have been smart enough to weave our this lack of social grace into a system.
People will not budge with a polite 'excuse me' but if you yell any variation of 'bhai aagha khaso ne' you'll see quick action. Greeting anyone 'good morning' or 'good evening' is limited purely to schools and certain work places, a 'thank you' to the man/woman behind the counter is met by a surprised face (they do not expect and they do not accept thank yous), making a queue is looked down upon and even if a queue is already there people hate lining up and soon its a crowd, and dont even get me started about banks and government places.
This does not mean I haven't met refined men and women, those are there too, but they are so very few; the large majority still is allergic to kindness, politeness and dicipline. And so I sat wondering what would bring about a change in the situation, can we as a nation become inherently polite and mild mannered? If only every child is educated and taught the fine art of living peacefully with others can this change be brought about. Yes, it is going to be slow and yes its going to be very painful, but if we want to turn India back into one of the great civilizations its got to be done
People will not budge with a polite 'excuse me' but if you yell any variation of 'bhai aagha khaso ne' you'll see quick action. Greeting anyone 'good morning' or 'good evening' is limited purely to schools and certain work places, a 'thank you' to the man/woman behind the counter is met by a surprised face (they do not expect and they do not accept thank yous), making a queue is looked down upon and even if a queue is already there people hate lining up and soon its a crowd, and dont even get me started about banks and government places.
This does not mean I haven't met refined men and women, those are there too, but they are so very few; the large majority still is allergic to kindness, politeness and dicipline. And so I sat wondering what would bring about a change in the situation, can we as a nation become inherently polite and mild mannered? If only every child is educated and taught the fine art of living peacefully with others can this change be brought about. Yes, it is going to be slow and yes its going to be very painful, but if we want to turn India back into one of the great civilizations its got to be done
