A dear friend of mine, working in one of the largest and most reputed pharmaceutical company, narrated this incident to me. She was in the pantry area for a cup of coffee when she saw an Indian colleague who she didn’t know and hadn’t spoken to ever.This guy was washing and rinsing his coffee mug and seemed to be embarrassed to be seen by another Indian lady(my friend), caught in such a situation,doing such a menial job. And he was so ashamed of himself that he remarked, addressing my friend –“Here, in this office I have to do this. At home I don’t even fetch a glass of water myself.”
Great job….loud applause.
Another friend, working in an IT giant organization in Texas was talking about the new Indian guys shipped from India for some project. And they complained to the management that they were under ‘severe mental stress’ because they couldn’t readily get to eat sambhar and rice. Grow up guys, all daals and rice and masalas are available readily in Texas. Try boiling some of it with salt and laal mirch before escalating the issue to the management.
A friend’s mother-in-law when visiting them from India –“My poor son has to touch the dirty dishes and clean up after dinner.”She was mad and hurt about her son having to rinse the dishes and load the dishwasher.
This is a do-it-yourself country,ma’am!!
And this one is taken from the novel I am reading currently, Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee. In this plot, some people are talking about the efficacy of the metro train system in Calcutta. The argument, one guy gave was that people could reach home earlier in order to spend some more quality time with family.
“Quality time?” a woman retorted.
“That man who downs tens of cups of tea at work is able to reach home 15 minutes earlier to lift up a lazy leg to the couch and order more.”
Amongst us, so called “well to do” South Asians, we need to inculcate dignity of labour right from childhood. Loved your crisp, “to the point” style of writing.
well written.good post.i feel it is the upbringing of an indian male,which is responsible for such an attitude.mothers are to be blamed,sorry…..
I wud both agree and disagree with you here Sara, problem is we Indians have a hierarchical setup in society. So thats why you see people looking down upon doing these things, and within family too the setup is decided, elders -> men -> ladies etc. But then its not only males; how many mother in laws do we see working hard with her ‘bahoo’s in kitchen?
When I went for studies to France, we were given a room and we were supposed to clean it, wash it , wash clothes, utensils etc etc on our own. There was a cleaner for alley but she wont ever clean any room, and my mom was surprised that I couldn’t get someone to clean my room! And so is she surprised when my jijus help out my cousin in dishes and all.
So I’d rather blame our attitude and then also add, this has to be acknowledged and catered to. Many need to be made realised this, as they dnt even know that they are doing!!
nice pick of topic, i must say
Yes Jas,thats why I said…not pointing any fingers to anyone..these are just some related incidents.
I liked the title of the post for it is so apt..
The probelm lies in the ignorant mind of Indians..which needs to be terribly changed in certain situations..
Especially when it comes to cleaning..How can anybody take the other for granted..We need to respect and love all human beings on this earth..
I just pray to God that i dont take anybody for granted ever..Let me do all my cleaning myself as long as i have these 2 hands..!
Amen!