Thursday, September 09, 2004
Pessimist?
It all began with both of us trying to argue our stance and me pleading him to be more optimistic rather than a pessimist.The following is his answer to my accusation of being pessimistic.I felt the necessity of sharing it with everyone as it throws light on many sensitive issues. Enjoy reading:)
Hi,
This is w.r.t the question you asked me and I shall try to be as concise as possible! So far, this has been my experience.
I was in science group in 12th and in computer science in engineering college for 4 years. I have been the in US for MS in computer science for 2 years from now.
The people I meet somehow have been very superficial. Most of these people have very little interest in humanties. Most of them read novels. i.e pulp fiction. They neither have a clue of what their own mothertongue has to offer nor do they have any interest in exploring the oppurtunities available to them to know their own culture/society better. Indianness is gone in their minds. Everyone wants to dress in Lee cooper jeans, foreign deodrant and Niki shoes. But if a festival comes, then everyone show up with silk kurtas ready to dance. Here is a set of questions and the default answers you would get from a typical engineering student.
Who is your favorite author?
- Jeffrey Archer.
Have you read any work in your language
- No. nothing other than what was in the compulsory text book
What career options have you searched?
- Nothing. I am very interested in computer science. I want to be a software engineer.
Do you love your country?
- Offcourse. I cheer for India whenever they play cricket.
The indian pop culture is such a shame/sham. Watch any bollywood movie. Each one breaks the others hypocrism record.
With this sorry state of affairs, how could I be optimistic??
After coming to USA, I am used to hearing irritating remarks about India and its system from people who are basically escapists. No one is ready to agree that they could not handle the competition in India. The veil of ego puts the blame on India. I have stayed in this university for 2 years now and only 1 computer science student has gone back to India (offcourse not for some desi company but for an MNC) since the day I have come here. People beg, plead lie or do anything they can to stay in this country. They work illegally in gas stations, become servers.. for what? its not the american dream.. its only for a few pennies more than what they could have in India. I have seen the contempt on us in an American's eyes (again its applicable only to my experiences).
But, indians ignore it. They try to term it as professionalism.
You should have seen our independence day (rather the mockery of it)... faculty and families used it as a picnic, single students used it as a platform to hit on girls and romantically uninterested people saw it as an oppurtunity to grab as much free food as they can. There were few who helped us a lot but in return, they expected valuable contacts of girls, and a chance to give girls a lift back home!
The level of superficiality we have sunk into is scares me. There are no more real emotions.
Life is not all about money. I am not blaming someone if they do not think so. But, my personal belief is, life is atleast a bit about your country. Hence, when one is selling his own soul for money, its also true that his countries image is also tarnished, for no fault of hers. This is totally unacceptable for me.
I did not care to think about all this. Moreover, whether I realized it or not, I was also in the same crowd. All said and done, I myself did not do anything that I am proud of in engineering college.
Outsourcing a job to India is all great. Think about the idea behind it. It is basically doing a country's cheap jobs which they dont want to do because they have more important things to do in their life. We are waiting with open arms so that someone throws some cheap project at us so that we can make some money. Whatever business name and model you call it with, put in plain english, its Cyberslavery.
Forget all this... have Indians ever thought why we have to have computerize India? we are one billion people with enough number of unemployed people to make sure that every business process runs at its maximum efficiency. has anyone cared to stop and think why.. why should indians be so crazed about this alien concept? aren't their other important jobs that to be filled?
Today the Indian youth are proud to say that they hate politics and do not care what goes on in the country. today the the average indian youth is so corrupt that, for him, as long as his job gets done fast, he does not mind bribing people. (again this is my experience)
With this kind of people around you, when it comes to India, how are we to hope that our country will change? Who is to tell them that the life they are leading is the essence of slavery? that their minds are still captured by greed and the west? do they have the necessity to listen? if they continue with this greed operated ideology, what will happen to my country, my religion, my culture... this forces me to be cynical about tommorow. What I do does not matter. I shall put my effort to things I believe in. I will not care for the results. But, knowing that nothing is going to change whether I work for it or not makes me an avantagrade pessimist. Its not because my efforts are inconsequential. Its because the destiny of our land is to be decided by people who do not even know that they are the pillars of thid monument we call our home.
Do you see light?
regards,
Sham
Whatever Sham mentions seems very much relevant to how most of us think. This is in fact reality wherein we frame our own definitions for patriotism, proffessionalism, civic sense,community help etc.. etc.. Everyone has their own set of rules and beliefs which ultimately help them to survive the competition .It is indeed easy to crticize but really very difficult to be more wiser than others. Well wiser here doesn't refer to intelligence or the knowledge one has but with one being more selfless and pragmatic. One needs to think of oneself or to be too frank, one needs to be "selfish", but we also need to have the wisdom to act in a more wiser way without compromising one's comforts or needs. It is possible.
Hi,
This is w.r.t the question you asked me and I shall try to be as concise as possible! So far, this has been my experience.
I was in science group in 12th and in computer science in engineering college for 4 years. I have been the in US for MS in computer science for 2 years from now.
The people I meet somehow have been very superficial. Most of these people have very little interest in humanties. Most of them read novels. i.e pulp fiction. They neither have a clue of what their own mothertongue has to offer nor do they have any interest in exploring the oppurtunities available to them to know their own culture/society better. Indianness is gone in their minds. Everyone wants to dress in Lee cooper jeans, foreign deodrant and Niki shoes. But if a festival comes, then everyone show up with silk kurtas ready to dance. Here is a set of questions and the default answers you would get from a typical engineering student.
Who is your favorite author?
- Jeffrey Archer.
Have you read any work in your language
- No. nothing other than what was in the compulsory text book
What career options have you searched?
- Nothing. I am very interested in computer science. I want to be a software engineer.
Do you love your country?
- Offcourse. I cheer for India whenever they play cricket.
The indian pop culture is such a shame/sham. Watch any bollywood movie. Each one breaks the others hypocrism record.
With this sorry state of affairs, how could I be optimistic??
After coming to USA, I am used to hearing irritating remarks about India and its system from people who are basically escapists. No one is ready to agree that they could not handle the competition in India. The veil of ego puts the blame on India. I have stayed in this university for 2 years now and only 1 computer science student has gone back to India (offcourse not for some desi company but for an MNC) since the day I have come here. People beg, plead lie or do anything they can to stay in this country. They work illegally in gas stations, become servers.. for what? its not the american dream.. its only for a few pennies more than what they could have in India. I have seen the contempt on us in an American's eyes (again its applicable only to my experiences).
But, indians ignore it. They try to term it as professionalism.
You should have seen our independence day (rather the mockery of it)... faculty and families used it as a picnic, single students used it as a platform to hit on girls and romantically uninterested people saw it as an oppurtunity to grab as much free food as they can. There were few who helped us a lot but in return, they expected valuable contacts of girls, and a chance to give girls a lift back home!
The level of superficiality we have sunk into is scares me. There are no more real emotions.
Life is not all about money. I am not blaming someone if they do not think so. But, my personal belief is, life is atleast a bit about your country. Hence, when one is selling his own soul for money, its also true that his countries image is also tarnished, for no fault of hers. This is totally unacceptable for me.
I did not care to think about all this. Moreover, whether I realized it or not, I was also in the same crowd. All said and done, I myself did not do anything that I am proud of in engineering college.
Outsourcing a job to India is all great. Think about the idea behind it. It is basically doing a country's cheap jobs which they dont want to do because they have more important things to do in their life. We are waiting with open arms so that someone throws some cheap project at us so that we can make some money. Whatever business name and model you call it with, put in plain english, its Cyberslavery.
Forget all this... have Indians ever thought why we have to have computerize India? we are one billion people with enough number of unemployed people to make sure that every business process runs at its maximum efficiency. has anyone cared to stop and think why.. why should indians be so crazed about this alien concept? aren't their other important jobs that to be filled?
Today the Indian youth are proud to say that they hate politics and do not care what goes on in the country. today the the average indian youth is so corrupt that, for him, as long as his job gets done fast, he does not mind bribing people. (again this is my experience)
With this kind of people around you, when it comes to India, how are we to hope that our country will change? Who is to tell them that the life they are leading is the essence of slavery? that their minds are still captured by greed and the west? do they have the necessity to listen? if they continue with this greed operated ideology, what will happen to my country, my religion, my culture... this forces me to be cynical about tommorow. What I do does not matter. I shall put my effort to things I believe in. I will not care for the results. But, knowing that nothing is going to change whether I work for it or not makes me an avantagrade pessimist. Its not because my efforts are inconsequential. Its because the destiny of our land is to be decided by people who do not even know that they are the pillars of thid monument we call our home.
Do you see light?
regards,
Sham
Whatever Sham mentions seems very much relevant to how most of us think. This is in fact reality wherein we frame our own definitions for patriotism, proffessionalism, civic sense,community help etc.. etc.. Everyone has their own set of rules and beliefs which ultimately help them to survive the competition .It is indeed easy to crticize but really very difficult to be more wiser than others. Well wiser here doesn't refer to intelligence or the knowledge one has but with one being more selfless and pragmatic. One needs to think of oneself or to be too frank, one needs to be "selfish", but we also need to have the wisdom to act in a more wiser way without compromising one's comforts or needs. It is possible.
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"You don't know what you are going to do about changing anything that you want to change, all you do is just crib and make some directionless statements. You are not able to articulate what you believe in, what good is that going to yield."
where have I mentioned that I don't know what I am going to do about changing these things? Moreover, I have not told what I am going to do about these things. Where does the question of 'not being able to articulate' come?
Where have I made 'directionless' comments?
These are the reasons which made me take the stance I have.
If everything we face had direct solutions as you expect, life would be meaningless. There are questions, there are concerns for which answers have to be found.
I am a member of the deesha community. My questions associated to outsourcing is not about the economic aspect. Its the ethical one. I assert it again. Accepting outsourced jobs is accepting that we are CHEAP.
Finally, I am not cribbing. I just stated the facts.
where have I mentioned that I don't know what I am going to do about changing these things? Moreover, I have not told what I am going to do about these things. Where does the question of 'not being able to articulate' come?
Where have I made 'directionless' comments?
These are the reasons which made me take the stance I have.
If everything we face had direct solutions as you expect, life would be meaningless. There are questions, there are concerns for which answers have to be found.
I am a member of the deesha community. My questions associated to outsourcing is not about the economic aspect. Its the ethical one. I assert it again. Accepting outsourced jobs is accepting that we are CHEAP.
Finally, I am not cribbing. I just stated the facts.
Anyway, the issue we are dealing with is really debatable.
At times we do things not because they give us satisfaction but because it is imminent for our survival. But even then we can still retain our integrity. In today’s world working “hard” is not the punch line but working “smart” is. At times, our ego gets in the way of even choosing a career as we don’t want to fall behind the rat race but we do compromise it when it becomes a survival issue.
I think the same rule applies for the “outsourcing” issue. Well, yes we are being offered jobs which are of lower caliber but we should look at the positive streaks it has. Employment to many, globalization, and a better economy to name a few. Outsourcing is not a new issue to the developed countries though it might be to India. But the wisdom lies in accepting them and improving ourselves based on these opportunities.
I strongly feel India (more to with the people than the land) can emerge into a global power considering the great brains and the huge manpower it has.
Well well well! the whole issue started with something else and got diverted into something else ( which is not unusualJ). We need to be more civic in our deeds. Yes, we need not be another Mahatma Gandhi, Vivekananda or Mother Teresa, but we can always try to keep our neighborhoods as clean as we keep ours, we can always be little more considerate of the person on the street if we can, we can learn to drive slowly when someone is crossing the road, we can surely throw the litter into the dustbin instead on roads, if we have authority, we can surely think of building more toilets and keeping them clean after using them than peeing on the roadsides. Small things make a huge difference.
At times we do things not because they give us satisfaction but because it is imminent for our survival. But even then we can still retain our integrity. In today’s world working “hard” is not the punch line but working “smart” is. At times, our ego gets in the way of even choosing a career as we don’t want to fall behind the rat race but we do compromise it when it becomes a survival issue.
I think the same rule applies for the “outsourcing” issue. Well, yes we are being offered jobs which are of lower caliber but we should look at the positive streaks it has. Employment to many, globalization, and a better economy to name a few. Outsourcing is not a new issue to the developed countries though it might be to India. But the wisdom lies in accepting them and improving ourselves based on these opportunities.
I strongly feel India (more to with the people than the land) can emerge into a global power considering the great brains and the huge manpower it has.
Well well well! the whole issue started with something else and got diverted into something else ( which is not unusualJ). We need to be more civic in our deeds. Yes, we need not be another Mahatma Gandhi, Vivekananda or Mother Teresa, but we can always try to keep our neighborhoods as clean as we keep ours, we can always be little more considerate of the person on the street if we can, we can learn to drive slowly when someone is crossing the road, we can surely throw the litter into the dustbin instead on roads, if we have authority, we can surely think of building more toilets and keeping them clean after using them than peeing on the roadsides. Small things make a huge difference.
Ramdhan, I do understand how immense the economic boom of globalization is to India as a whole. I am not a big admirer of Nehruvian policies so lets leave that aside. I guess I am getting at what Ram Manohar Lohia was trying to spread, and the Janata Party ideals (back when they were a major political power)
I fear globalization (and offcourse freetrade). I feel we are not strong enough to inculcate it and yet preserve our uniqueness. I watched helplessly as local markets crumbled due to liberalization.
This is not limited to economies but to the whole community, the society in general is loosing its identity and diversity due to this attack. An example is the metropolitan look of bangalore; a place where Kannadigas have to struggle to communicate in their own language in their capital city!
Good or bad, I dont want that to happen. If that means reduced economic growth (through such measures as curbing outsourcing) then so be it.
Regarding China or Japan, I do not care whether they think its good or bad. This is my personal feeling. If they did it, yeah, they ARE cheap.
I am a member of deesha because I want to know the pressures of the economy (and those who control it) that force a nation to conclude that the only we we can have economic growth is by liberalization.
"Out of lakhs of young people that get graduated every year only a few thousands are fortunate, intelligent and critical thinkers like you. "
- I am flattered!! There are many more intelligent people I have seen, many more people who have the ability to make a difference. That is the point. They have given up!!
As of today, I am convinced that what we are doing is wrong. You may put it as, what we are doing is less evil than our other options.
To end this, let me put it this way, the way YOU measure progress and quality of life (and I Know you are the majority) is very different from how I measure it. We Ostriches are different!!
I fear globalization (and offcourse freetrade). I feel we are not strong enough to inculcate it and yet preserve our uniqueness. I watched helplessly as local markets crumbled due to liberalization.
This is not limited to economies but to the whole community, the society in general is loosing its identity and diversity due to this attack. An example is the metropolitan look of bangalore; a place where Kannadigas have to struggle to communicate in their own language in their capital city!
Good or bad, I dont want that to happen. If that means reduced economic growth (through such measures as curbing outsourcing) then so be it.
Regarding China or Japan, I do not care whether they think its good or bad. This is my personal feeling. If they did it, yeah, they ARE cheap.
I am a member of deesha because I want to know the pressures of the economy (and those who control it) that force a nation to conclude that the only we we can have economic growth is by liberalization.
"Out of lakhs of young people that get graduated every year only a few thousands are fortunate, intelligent and critical thinkers like you. "
- I am flattered!! There are many more intelligent people I have seen, many more people who have the ability to make a difference. That is the point. They have given up!!
As of today, I am convinced that what we are doing is wrong. You may put it as, what we are doing is less evil than our other options.
To end this, let me put it this way, the way YOU measure progress and quality of life (and I Know you are the majority) is very different from how I measure it. We Ostriches are different!!
"I have seen poverty, illeteracy, hunger, hopelessness, oppression, ignorance, tears, dishonesty, nepotism, casteism, groupism, etc... and experienced most of them"
---- This is my whole point!!! I am sad because what we are doing (me and you working in MNCs) is not going to solve this core problem. At best, we would escape it.
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---- This is my whole point!!! I am sad because what we are doing (me and you working in MNCs) is not going to solve this core problem. At best, we would escape it.
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