Are Indians Lazy?

Are Indians by nature very lazy?  This has long bothered me and is increasingly convincing me when I look around.  Take civic sense for instance.  It is not that we do not have civic sense.  Our cultures are centuries old and some of the civilizations unearthed in harappa and mohenjadaro have had detailed plans on sanitation and town planning.  Each and every culture in the Indian sub-continent carries values on hygiene, cleanliness and concern for the environment around us.  If this is tru, then why are we keeping our urban and rural environment dirty?  Why do we happily and in some cases "rightfully" litter our streets, blame the corporation and not carry the same responsibility when we throw our rubbish outside our houses and not in the marked bins?  Over the years, we have learnt to be lazy.  The over population could be one reason.  We just carry on by saying - it is the other guy's responsibility ! It is not just civic sense.  It is in every aspect of our ethos....the "chaltha hai" attitude.  The acceptance of anything that is mediocre and average.  The one thing we have of late learnt is how to package mediocrity and leverage that advantage and make more money and fame! We just watched a program in "Chennai Sangamam" - the annual festival showcasing tamil folk culture.  The so called folk dance was so mediocre that even a person like me who was not brought up in villages could spot the lack of imagination and depth in the program content.  This is also prevalent in the work places. All that is needed is just an idea which can be packaged and magnified and marketed.  Ordinary work is appreciated, sincerity is glorified and honesty and integrity are rewarded with almost "saint hood"!  Why are we like this?  It is influencing the educational sector as well. Teaching and mentoring is almost unheard of these days.  Parents routinely include extra tuitions as part of their childrens' schedule especially in higher classes.  These things have become a necessity. This means teaching (in the truest sense) is absent in schools.  Teachers have become lazy. Companies nowadays take graduates by the drove.  Any degree will do and any institute will do.  The reason is demand is driving this recruitment.  Hence institutions have sprung up and no body gives a damn to quality of curriculum.  Companies do not give a damn either since they say they have a good "academy" or "campus" to train the new recruits !  So educationists have become lazy. The goverment machinery?  That is so evident in the way "intentions" are announced as "actions".  Planning never takes place.  why? because it is urgent.  Roads are laid quickly...without planning and then dug up by another arm of the government and then relaid...leading to trmendous wastage.  This is plain laziness of the mind not to have planned properly.  The one important lesson we as indians have to learn is that countries in the west have not just become powerful and prosperous because of inheritance and nature's gift.  They have a basic sense of "active mind" imbibed in their ethos.  They take things fairly seriously.  They obey the law.  They do not post handouts on traffic sign boards. It pays to be active and not be lazy.  I have often heard of the story that India is one of the few countries not to have waged war to gain territory. Pak may be arguable.  But then I used to jokingly remark that you need to be active to even think of doing that.  We are just happy being lazy and just let things happen... Is that perhaps the reason for our allowing invaders at their will? I do not know.  may be.  My only advise to my daughter has always been - pl do not get lazy.  It will just hurt you.  I myself am driven to laziness at times.  When I watch some of the members of our previous generation I just wonder if we have not learnt from them.  I find them definitely much more active in mind and body.

 

India may be growing..may be the future of the world.. but unless every one of us shake off our laziness, this will only be a passing phase.