Thursday, March 30, 2006
Are we ready for development?
Recently in the Economist magazine, several articles about India talked about India’s growth, India’s potential for growth, India’s future development, India compared to China – you get the picture. However, several readers responded with criticisms, not about the statistics or the reporting, but that India is not ready for development.
The criticisms all revolve around one issue – India’s astounding lack of public hygiene and civic responsibility. One reader commented about the filth and the stench emanating from the public bathroom in the Chattrapathi Shivaji railway station in India – but why go so far, and why go to a train station. The same is true about the bathrooms in Bangalore airport – the airport that hosts the world’s elite, the brains of hi-tech city, the high-ranking politicians, the businessmen and everyday people. One of my friends said that in spite of a delicate balancing act of holding her nose and trying to use the facilities, she had to bite down on her tongue to stop a gagging reflex that she had to the odors. Tourists have to plan their tours and shopping to ensure that they return to their hotels for bathroom breaks. Students often hold it until they return home. People who have no choice bear the risk of communicable diseases. Are these our only options? Is there no solution in light of our burgeoning economy and prophecies of development?
Why is the country that invented the zero, that has such pride in cleanliness of the home, that is renowned for its hospitality, one of the dirtiest, filthiest countries in the world? As Edward R. Murrow, a famous television journalist in the United States said, “we must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.” The problem is serious. There are a billion plus people living in the country. Urban spaces are packed and continue to grow. The current infrastructure is unable to keep up with the pace of growth and is often groaning under the burden of serving twice or thrice the intended population. The problem is connected to other social issues and from a macro level, seems impossible to solve.
Most people think it is below their dignity to clean up after themselves in public places, that it is the duty of lower caste members, bathroom and sewer cleaners to do so. Why do Indians lack pride in their city? I’m not even addressing the problems created by those that don’t have a home, those that sleep on the street – that is another issue altogether. I’m addressing this to educated, middle-class and rich Indians who don’t think twice before littering in public or dump their trash outside their home, in an empty, neighboring lot.
This does not happen in the U.S. People comment that Indians in the U.S. behave differently in India than in the U.S., but why is that accepted, even if it is true? Do non-resident Indians somehow develop a magical sense of community and responsibility? My argument is that people follow by example and learn by the disapproving glances of those around them if they commit a civic crime.
Some Indians would probably say that this is a typical NRI mindset – to criticize India and all things Indian. Maybe we are used to something different, something better. It is not wrong to want the same kind of development in the cities we grew up in. The problems still exist, in fact they are growing by the minute and the repercussions are great. Communicable diseases spread faster and take their toll on the weak. How many people know that jaundice, a serious liver disease, is caused by food or water that is infected with human excrement?
Surat reportedly cleaned up after the plague and is supposedly one of the cleanest cities in the country. What is it going to take to wake up a sleeping population regarding the ills of their surroundings? A plague?
Sunday, March 19, 2006
"Crash Moments"
This phrase adopted from the Oscar winner for Best Picture “Crash” is being used regularly to describe racial and cultural misunderstandings, discriminatory behavior and random occurrences. There has been a lot of news coverage as to whether the movie “Crash” deserved the award. If the movie were to comment about this, it would say “decide for yourself!”
Unlike other movies dealing with issues of race, sex, culture and violence, this is one movie that does not judge. Rather, it cleverly uses common stereotypes that people have and shows us their biases in an unflattering, yet ironic light. The movie left me disturbed with its realistic portrayal of common incidents which blow up into magnified issues. While it didn’t show any scenes regarding Indians, I kept thinking about what was left unsaid. To me, it seems to be just a matter of time before the clash of cultures involves Indians more and more in the United States.
Indians in the United States have become more prominent in the recent years. More and more Indian/South Asian faces appear in all fields of life – in television advertising, in the news media, in sciences (of course!), and in expected roles – cab drivers in New York City and motel owners across America. Added to that is the increase in media coverage centered on President Bush’s visit to India, combined with the fact that most Indians in the U.S. are shown as smart, successful, professionals.
The animosity is already there. Just look at the experiences of call-center workers in India. Among other things, they complain of verbal abuse from Americans, anxious about the jobs that Indians are supposedly stealing from them; they make fun of their accent and ridicule them about India. Isn’t it just a matter of time before their base fears spill over from call center workers to Indians that they see and interact with in their daily lives? How many people remember the incident of the Philadelphia radio show host who called an Indian call center pretending to order something for his daughter? During a live broadcast, the host proceeded to abuse the unsuspecting customer service representative and made several derogatory comments about Indians being “rat-eaters,” etc.
I remember getting a call the other day where I knew the caller was from India, from his accent. I politely refused his offer and asked him where he was from. They probably get that a lot these days from Americans. He responded with a question, asking if I was Indian, to which I said yes. He then told me he was from Pakistan. I laughed after I hung up. Obviously this call center worker had a list of responses to a question like mine. I wonder what he would have said if an American responder at the other end of the line had asked him that…
Some people would argue that this is a common stereotype from Americans who live in rural America, where they are not exposed to cultural melting pots like New York City or other urban centers like San Francisco or the Bay Area. That is probably true. Most Indians tend to migrate to cities where other Indians live, where the Indian community is strong, where Indian stores and temples exist, so an average American living in these cities would probably interact more with Indians than someone living in rural America. But the sheer force of our numbers in the world – what is it – that one in every five or six is an Indian, prompts concerns about the increasing occurrences of “Crash moments” related to Indians.
The reverse is also true. Whether it is our penchant for fair skin or our caste based values, Indians tend to be discriminatory both within their own community and outside. I’ve heard racist comments from wealthy Indians in the United States – the feeling of “ours” vs. “theirs,” with “theirs” referring to Americans is omnipresent in the usage of an average Indian family in the US. Rarely have I seen such instances spill out in public, but in gatherings among friends and community members, many will agree that we discriminate against African-Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics, Other Asian communities and among ourselves based on caste and language!
As Indians grow and flourish in the United States with multiple generations settling here, our problems spill over as well. Problems with gangs, domestic violence, substance abuse and illegal sales are among the many issues that law enforcement in the United States has to deal with. In those instances, stereotypes on both sides are either reinforced or dispelled.
I remember reading an article in the New York Times last year about cultural differences affecting a drug sting operation. The article talked about the cultural difficulty faced by law enforcement and Indian store owners related to the sale of items used to make an illegal drug “methamphetamine.” Apparently the store owners are prohibited from selling more than a few items of restricted substances to customers that are commonly used to make this drug. The store owners, apparently unaware of the use of these ingredients and limited in their understanding and use of English, were taken aback at the accusation of being involved in illegal drug sales. One example the article mentioned is the word “cook,” which to these store-owners meant “cooking food,” but the street term for “doing a cook” meant making the drug.
The innocence or culpability of these store owners is beyond the scope of this column, but the seriousness of the cultural differences is not. Whether the increased visibility of Indians in the U.S. will serve to create a greater understanding of the complexities and realities of Indian culture or whether it will limit people’s understanding to stereotypes remain to be seen. In the meantime, “Crash moments” continue…
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
"Little Power Trips"
“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” a rephrasing of Lord Acton’s quote, continues to resound in the minds of those who shake their heads in annoyance when they find that this maxim still holds true in their everyday lives.
I can see this being used to describe famous or rather infamous political or social, national or world leaders, but these days, the saying appears to be more apt in using it to describe the actions of your small to mid-level employee who has the power to put your life on hold. I call this “the power trips of people in mediocre positions” or, even better, “little power trips.”
You know who I’m talking about. This is the surly guy at the post-office who won’t give you your parcel because you lost the slip, but you showed your ID and sure enough, there is a parcel waiting for you in the back-room. Or, this could even be the lady who won’t process your maternity benefit claims because she can’t count and in the process denies you of your legally and validly accumulated pay.
I know what you are thinking – it doesn’t happen only in India, it happens in the U.S. also. I’m sure as a student, you remember running back and forth between the university and the college to make sure your degree paperwork was in order, or, if you travel frequently, you probably make a few trips to the passport office to take care of those little things. Things that are a pain to do, made even more so painful by the little people whose sole aim in life is to follow the rules and where it says sign on the dotted line, to make sure people don’t sign a millimeter outside of the dotted line.
If you were to see these people, they would probably run traffic lights, litter on the streets and would probably park illegally, but at their job, these people are the most conscientious workers ever. “The paperwork needs to be in order,” they tell you sternly. “Go back to the end of the line and fill it out correctly,” they say. All that may have been missing is an area where you may have forgotten to initial, but instead of pointing that out (that is not their job, you see) they send you to the end of the line to figure out why the paperwork was incorrect.
God forbid you question their authority – you will be blacklisted forever and will probably have to relegate yourself to the end of the line automatically, out of repentance for over stepping the line. I remember this passport office in Mumbai very clearly. He wouldn’t let me travel to the U.S. even though I have a green card, because my Indian passport did not have an “ECNR” stamp. Here I am, an Indian national, with an Indian passport, standing in Mumbai airport at 2:30 a.m., bleary-eyed, waiting to get onto the plane and sleep, not wanting to think about the family and friends I’m leaving behind before heading back to my automated lifestyle in the U.S. and this belligerent Indian Customs Official refuses to let me board a flight to my legal country of residence because of an “ECNR” stamp?
Wait – it gets better! What is an “ECNR” stamp you may ask? It stands for “Emigration Clearance Not Required” and apparently anyone leaving India should have this stamped in their passports. It may help to know that the U.S. doesn’t require it. The other option is that if you happen to have your degree certificate with you, just as a happenstance, wondering if you ever need it to impress your fellow bleary-eyed traveler in line, saying “look, I have a degree from Osmania University,” or if you feel the need to let someone else know that you are a graduate and happen to carry it in your back-pocket, then an “ECNR” is not required.
This is one of the many rules that I just don’t understand, but I’m not going to question it. I don’t want to be black-listed by the Indian Customs Department, especially by the little man who feels he cannot let me board my flight without it. If you get only one thing from this article, make sure as an Indian citizen, your passport is stamped at your local passport office with the stamp “ECNR.” There – that’s my good deed for the day.
Getting back to the point – I think psychologically, everyone wants to have power, or be the one who controls other. The politically correct version of this is called “leadership.” All jokes aside, this is something instinctual, a Darwinistic philosophy perhaps, but true. Look at little children playing – one of the kids will have the toy that everyone wants and will refuse to part with it as he or she is getting their first taste of power. Same thing as you grow older. Some people however, let go of it and decide to let the better part of their personalities take over. Others get into little positions of power and start wielding this over an unsuspecting citizenry.
So the next time someone is sending you to the back of the line because of a power trip, smile, shake your head and remember to get the “ECNR” stamp on your passport.
