A Little Change in Attitude is All We Need!!

So yes I moved to the US. Now I am just getting back to my normal routine after quite a long time of literally living in the air and on the wheel. From New York to Seattle, from Chicago to Miami – it has been a crazy fortnight. In spite of the concept of globalization my transition to this new country was full of new experiences and every day is still full of them. So for now, my next few posts are going to be full of my expatriate experiences. >>> <<< I was a citizen of the glorified global village. Too much a believer of the concept of India shining. That was why I was super pissed when an elderly lady at the Frankfurt airport told me that being able to drink directly from the tap was one of her small joys after coming from India. And I took a little pride to myself when she had to take my help because she could not figure out the sensor of the automatic tap from which she was going to drink. As I travelled more I was surprised to see that I was subconsciously agreeing with her. There were few shocking experiences that made me wonder about the reality. More than infrastructure, we Indians needed to change ourselves if we really wanted our country to come out of its forever status of a Developing Third World Nation. Despite the common belief that Indians are a friendly lot, I found Indians running away from each other. I found all of them too busy to Americanize themselves and trying too hard to shake the Desi tag off. I mean what’s wrong with being an Indian? In India I used to work in an office building which has won several awards in categories like architecture, infrastructure etc. Yet the restrooms there were almost always dirty. There were even people who squatted on the toilet seat! Many times I saw footprints on the seat. Dustbins overflowed with used tissues and the floor was invariably wet. But here in the US even though my offices have a substantial Indian population the restrooms are sparklingly clean and dry. What makes me wonder, if we can behave here, why can’t we back in our own country? Another thing which I only heard of but never really experienced was a healthy work culture. People I work with here come to office sharp at 8:30 in the morning and live by 5 in the evening. I mean that’s amazing right? Such working hours have always been my dream back in India. But in India people came in late – 10 sometimes 11 in the morning, and after numerous tea, snacks and smoking breaks later when they finally started to work the days already would have yielded to the afternoons. Indians always boast of their smartness and the of the Americans’ dumbness, yet it’s the Americans who keep their surroundings clean, streets free of litter and follow traffic rules strictly. Sometimes you got to wonder what the use of so much of smartness is if it can’t be used for the betterment of our own lifestyle in our own country. Sometimes you got to prefer the dumbness. Don’t you?

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