10 Uneducated habits of Educated Indians

Consistently over my growing up years I have noticed a few uneducated things that educated Indians do. I have not seen much of a visible change through the years, though there is a visible change in the lifestyle of our times.

Here are a few habits I have recorded which have been invariant as long as I can remember.

1] Littering: Making the roads a dustbin is subconscious embedded in us ...atleast most of us. Be it a guy from a high flying car or 2 wheeler driving techie, they all do this. Wonder what will it take to wake this subconscious?!?

2] Spitting: Some people are SO aware of the environment, that they feel it their duty to stop the wastage of water.. albeit in their own ridiculous way. So they spit right wherever they feel like. On the road, pavement, inside buildings, staircase walls...basically everywhere where one would not need to water it away.

3]Act as mock spectators: There are so many times wen we see accidents happening on the roads, & we just act as spectators. Honestly, people who are not that educated often are seen helping these people in need. Wonder where do we leave that education to? To plain indifference?

4]Talking on the phone while driving. Now almost EVERYBODY does this. With Bluetooth or without. When there is a rule, shouldn’t it be followed? If not for the law, atleast becoz its for the safety of us & others!

5] When we want to get our work done, its OK to bribe, but on the same, when there is a discussion on, we never cease to complain & complain. I do agree this is really easier said than done. Staying in the same pond, we too do invariably get forced to drink the same water, but then don’t sound as if you are Harishchandra’s avatar & crib about India. If it means that strongly to you, abide by it!

6] Indifference is our middle name: If we see anything around us which, as being educated citizens require attention, we shall only provide proverbial comfort! That is, IF we aren’t getting late for am appointment, job, movie, etc..then we think of providing help. Else, its generally, “too sad, but I have other things to attend to ,not my business."

7]Free ka maal wastage: Everybody loves freebies. Including me. : But how do you handle it? Many times we pick up tissue papers from the hotels, free food at work place, fill up our plates & not complete it & waste off half of it. Even the xerox'es at work place, we waste copies of it...just becoz its free. Why? Why??

8] Acknowledgement: While most will bend down & not only fake smile.., but smother artificial compliments to people who make a personal difference for gains; I wonder why is it so difficult to even acknowledge a nod, a smile to some attender at a restaurant, a security guard at a theater, the watchman of the building. Surely it will not take away any high qualification/money by doing that.

9] Exercising rights: OK. We are in a democracy. So everybody is allowed to exercise their free will.
But when I see perfectly well educated graduates/MBA’s/CA’ S..[yes I did confirm the levels of education from the plenty of non voters! Coz I could not believe these are educated people!!] not exercising their votes; but rather talking like some buffoons from a place even further down from villages, I am lost for reactions. What is education to them???? Just getting a paycheck of a so & so amount? Or where there will be some kind of something for them? By voting isin't there a lot for them? I do not get that, But certainly are some rules in democracy too right? I wonder why isin’t voting made a compulsory law? Coz as it is, though with or without the law, many things don’t work here, atleast it will make some tiny winy difference. Atleast that!?

10. Driving etiquette: More than etiquette [I wonder how many people can relate that word with 'Driving'!], its about basic manners. When there is a car/bike breakdown of a hapless person on the road, [God forbid if it is a busy road!!] the poor s/he would rather hope to dissolve into the ground beneath, than hearing the impatience in the other commuters vehicle horns & glares! There is rarely a sentiment like, stopping by & offering help. But there is ALWAYS the sentiment of blazing the horns away & act insensate.

These are the few things which I so hope that slowly yet steadily get out from our society & make us think of ourselves as being 'truly educated.'

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10K Run...Whatta Fun!

Sunday Morning 4:30 .

I woke up with the sudden alarm with a start. Hardly 3 hours back I had got into bed after going for an impulse movie last night..& now I am awakened by the mind clock ticking off earlier than it was supposed to. Uggghh! why can't it let me sleep!!

For more than 3 years now I had been wanting to go to the 10K run which happens annually on a November Sunday in my city. & for more than 3 years I had failed to make it...mostly due to lack of good company, [Such lazy friends I have.. & the active ones aren't in town! :O]

However, this year I decided, company or no company, I am going to be there. I will have loads of company once I get there.

Also, importantly I wanted to participate before the enthusiasm ran out of me. Next year is again far away...& killing procrastination was one of my this years resolutions!

For the nescient, The Hyderabad 10K Run is a 10 km run that goes around the Hussainsagar Lake. It is divided in 3 categories. 10k[regular], 5k [for beginners..] & half marathon [21.1 kms]

I was a beginner..but a confident one! If I run, it has to be for the 10k..however long I can make it.

So, here I was, at 4:30am, contemplating my decided options... I decided to wait till a lil dawn descends, so that I could start.

Hmm..so at 4:30Am, I was trying to get back to some more sleep, obviously very tired with the shindig of the previous night's impulse as well as my current erratic work timings.
Since I was already up & 6:30 was not far away, for the briefest of moment I thought I should straightaway attempt the half marathon! Thankfully, that thought flew out of the window with the cool breeze as immediately as it arrived!

Indeed half marathon!

I was apprehensive on how much I would make it in the regular 10k itself..half marathon looked like a sudden horrific nightmare. Reminded me of a scene in some movie made on a novel, 'Do Biga Zameen', how the hero suffers to reach the end point..& finally loses his breadth. I had similar filmy images of me trying to complete that Half marathon & desperately trying to reach the finish line & die on it!
Thankfully such nightmares don't become a reality.

5:40Am.

I was ready & waiting for a li'l Sun to be up. While waiting, I suddenly fell into a cat's nap! Now this NEVER happens...so before I realised, it was already 6:00 & I was in a panic mode. I was sure that I wouldn't be there on time..& that was so disappointing!

Yet, I did start. Unfortunately the road was cordoned off for 2/4 wheelers to quite a far off place & I had to walk quite a mile before reaching People's plaza. the destination for the start of the run.

On walking I realised I had almost 5kms to reach People's plaza! &*%$#@!!! I had to fall of that nap today of all days?? I would never be on time. :(

Anyways, I walked upto 3.5 kms & then stopped as I saw the Hyderabadis in full flow towards my direction. The run had started!

I caught up with quite a few known faces as well as friends & turned around to continue the run, which, at that moment seemed like trying to cross The great wall of China!

In the expanse of 10kms., I saw a varied mix of very interesting people. People propagating causes, people running with their families, a couple of celebrities, kids, many corporate employees displaying their company logos, quite a few number of foreigners, photographers, bands playing to entertain, beggars on the roads looking strangely at this Sunday morning hulla, few residents from their balconies... totally enjoyed it. In our daily lives, very few times one gets to actually watch & register the happenings around us.

As I took the 10k run, here is the route that was charted for this one:
People's Plaza, Necklace Road, as the start & end point. - Sanjeeviah park -Sailing Club [Here I resisted the biggest temptation to run away home...as home comes in between these 2 points! :)] - Tank Bund - Ambedkar Statue -Secretariat -Lumbini Park road- & then back to People's Plaza.

Though I totally exhausted myself even less than 5Km into the run, somehow I kept going, also with good timely help of a quite younger cousin, whom I accidentally met there. God Bless him.

Finally, when I did reach the finish point, the joy & exhilaration were indeed most fulfilling. The pains of the long run... jog & the eventual walk all suddenly gave meaning to the effort. Like some rewarding experience we gain after doing some worthwhile work.

All in All, 10K run was a lot more than 10K fun!!!

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Democratic India?

Sachin Tendulkar.

Who is he?
A Name? A Brand? An Icon? An uncommon man? A citizen of a democratic country, An Indian?

Where does one put him into? Can't right?

Coz he IS all of these!

When this man recently gave his opinion on something related to Mumbai, it all was over the news for totally wrong reasons.

Wrong reasons & Sachin? You may wonder; as Sachin is known to be one of the most soft spoken giants of the cricketing world.

Rightly so, it was not HE who was wrong, but a certain Mr. Bal Thackeray .

Now there was a time I used to like Mr. Thackeray for his standing against for what was wrong & calling spade a spade. Afterall, in the name of a soft & aggressionless country, there was a lot of crap happening on which Mr. Thackeray had taken a stand.

But that was earlier.

With time I guess a sense of proportion has gotten lost within him along & his confused warring family. The internal game of oneupmanship is being played nationally.

Being defensive & protective of your motherland is one thing & becoming a bigot is another.

Over the years The Shiv Sena has slowly & steadily become a pro-creed group within India, who have been choking the very spirit of the country for which they had started off to defend in the first place.

When Sachin made a comment that 'Mumbai is for all'; that comment was published in Mr. Thackeray's mouthpiece 'Saamna', asking Sachin not to ruin his image by interfering in political pitches. 'Affectionate warning' is was called!

Whatever that means!! :O

Mr. Thackeray seems to have forgotten that APART from being a legendary cricketer, Sachin is as much a part of India as he is...& India is still a democracy....so I just checked!

He has a total right to express whatever he wishes to!

Also, from being so much to so many Indians & his demi-God status he has acheived, I'd like to add, ESPECIALLY becoz of what he is, he has even more rights to express what he wishes too. After all he has got a lot of good glory for the country. People commenting on him should check the their contribution levels with Sachin's & then probably think of opening their mouths!

It is his right to express..or rather EVERY Indian's right to express anything unless it is inflammatory or criminal of nature. & even a primary school kid would be able to decipher Sachin's statement correctly! & I am pretty sure how correct the kids would understand Mr. Thackeray's statement too.

Safeguarding your interests, your heritage, your culture is fine until you do NOT trespass & suppress others rights to express.

I am very sure that this new pitch Mr Thackeray has put his foot into, Shiv Sena must've lost many of its erstwhile supporters.

Rest, as the party seems to be going, they will only be left with people who do cater to their current inclination towards denigration of the party. A gloomy regression towards the once validated party it used to be.

In ending, I just hope Sachin knows what exact importance to give to such 'affectionate warnings.'

A plain royal ignore!!!

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A Thought

It is said that life is all about understanding. & the ones who have understood it are Learned.
What's not realised is, there is a difference between those two words.

Understood can never be equalled to being learned. Understanding is realising, whereas Learning is implementing that understanding.

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