Each day I go to work, my conviction about the IT industry being the dumbest workforce of India grows a bit stronger. A crowd of stupid closed minded people with a dangerous self impression of knowing everything under the sun, who think they have attained Nirvana when handed an onsite assignment. Proud mommy papa come to see Pappu off to his Phoren trip.Our Pappu has lived in metro cities that boast cosmopolitan culture, is Internet savvy and social media freak - truly global citizen! Yet, untrained and uncouth with a mangled sense of personal space and hygiene gives offense wherever he goes. Unwilling to observe and learn, happily sitting in his own well in the world’s stage, Pappu is unaware that his behavior is only making the world form a skewed view of Indians as a whole. Prepared to argue with me, are you now? Hold on to it please, till I finish my whole story.
The other day standing in a queue at the office cafeteria, I saw a man in front picking up a dessert from the dessert platter on his used plate and then a moment later putting it back on to the same platter - with bare hands! I swerved and left from the queue unable to think of taking my serving from the same platter and ashamed too!
It’s perfectly fine for the Pappus of the IT industry to shout on phone in native language while others work. Why even loud laughter and rowdy gestures in closed places like elevators are fine without even being considerate of the fellow passengers. Always seen in groups, these individuals are immensely insensitive to the other people sharing the same space. Turning up in office in a pair of old frayed and painted jeans, unshaven and with dirt under fingernails and a red button carelessly sewn on a white shirt is perfectly acceptable to them. Because it’s what’s inside that matters, not the outside appearance. Only show offs dress up. I am told. As long as the work is done, no one cares how Pappu looks or behaves. Pappus are too innocents to look groomed!
Will one’s innocence go away if he turned up in office in clean wrinkle free clothes, shaven and with trimmed nails? I don’t know. Nor do I understand how maintaining social decorum makes one less smart! Not only am I stumped by this argument, I even fail to understand this self professed goodness when the same people talk rudely, complete with ugly hand gestures to a sales assistant in a store, simply because he could not give them the deal they wanted, and cringes away from donating a cereal packet to an orphanage. Not only are these people horribly groomed, they reflect right back any initiative as well. All exercises to improve the social skills taken up at the corporate level fail because no one’s interested.
And it’s only the tip of the iceberg. The typical Indian sluggishness is really a unique thing to behold. The lack of seriousness in anything they do, and the shameless unapologetic stance infuriates me. The same people who boast about doing their work so well, are still miles behind the Germans, Japanese and even the Chinese. I am ashamed to admit that I’d choose a non-Indian team member over an Indian any day! You get the work done faster, you get good social skills too!
Yes, we have succeeded in convincing the rest of the world that - “These people never change! This ineptitude - they call it as Chalta Hai.” I heard the exact words being spoken when a manager who came to look for his team members after a critical issue needed immediate attention, found that unfazed by the problem they have gone for an elaborate tea-break!
While sometimes I feel angry enough to feel like shaking our entire population out of their eternal slumber, some other times I feel ashamed that these pappus and I come from the same country! I don’t know if the problem has any solution other than an apocalypse!
Love,
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Riot of Random
