Once I had done writing my FIRST Blog about the " ME FIRST" attitude, a thought began to creep up my now-days-idle mind (thanks to the hols, I seem to be in a eternal state of vettiness). I was just pondering on the reasons for such actions by the people. A question lurked precariously in a certain corner of my mind. Why are so many people here? (in the passport office, Err.. I can sense your frustration about me being obsessed with this place, but, shall change it soon in the course of this blog), Like what were they doing all these years? I can understand any young lad standing there with his parents, but what about all the others, there were people of all age groups standing together, all from six to sixty !!! Isn't getting a passport mandatory for almost all the citizens of India? It was at this point, that I began to get the answers.
Let me begin, by taking the best example-MYSELF. Now, the main reason why I wanted to get a passport, is not coz i wanted to go to Amsterdam, or Bangkok (No second gusses, why I chose these places :-)) , it was primarily because , I was going to write something called TOEFL on the 27th of February, 2006 and it required that I have a passport when i write the exam. As usual, I go to the passport office (this was my first visit to this place at that time.. around November 2005), I ask the procedure, and I was shocked to realize that it takes more than 6 months to get a passport in normal way. I thank our Indian governments always, thats because, they always have a provision of getting things done in a quicker way, by just giving them some extra notes which are printed and embossed by a ever changing design every time a major election takes place.. or every time a major financial racket is busted (both are the same)... I do some crap and get my passport in the first week of February, 2006.. well.. first time lucky I guess.. but it was not me alone who got this done, there were a couple of others with me who too got it done in the dying moments.. We could have well solved this issue if we had done things in a properly co-ordinated manner...with these thoughts i just sighed, there were so many people, who realize their duties only when it comes hard upon them.. till then, they just relax and let things happen.. is this the difference between us and the rest of the world... are we the true embodiments of laziness???or so to say.. procrastinators personified !!!!
These issues apply everywhere, Just go to a BSNL Chennai telephones counter on any day, the guy at the counter will be squatting flies, waiting for one sincere customer to pay his bill as and when it was issued to him.. Go to the same counter, the penultimate day and the last date of the "Pay-by-date", you will find yourself standing yards outside the BSNL building itself.. All those people before you, behind you and also, yourself.. just realized that it was the last day and you had to pay the bill.. thats when we move our lazy asses to do some work and get rid of the excess fat off it..
Let me not confine this issue only to all the domestic activities.. let me broaden the horizon where such a scenario applies... let us take the example of a student... we while flirt away all the days of the semester.. only a week before do we realize that, we have nothing called as notes with us... thanks to some, poor lad, who had burned the mid night oil for days and traveled to numerous staff rooms to collate all the notes for that subject, we just get a simple photocopy from him.. job done.. 1 week to go for semester, and we are away for a partying weekend holiday... Next day, sem exams.. we get up.. curse a few words to the poor teacher who taught us and begin our one day match...
Ok.. one can possibly argue that we get away with the exams and "all's well that end's well".. but is this the attitude one should carry??? Is this the attitude that separates one from the rest?? well.. I think.. this is the attitude that separates Indians from the rest.. having all the potential resources.. and having a population "X" times that of the bigger nations and "X" times smaller than the same nation in size ...we are still a developing country...
If we all think and see.. then we can come across various places where this scenario is in full effect... domestic issues, personal issues, official issues, all..... For all those who are well accustomed to the Tamil language.. you would have heard the adage "savura neratil , shankara shankara".. well.. aren't we all doing that...
Think my dear friends.. just think... we could make INDIA a much better place to live.. if we just do our work, before time... rather than procrastinate it to the last moments... after all.. stupid wasn't he who said.. "procrastination is the mother of all sins " !!!!!
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
The "ME FIRST" attitude...
This is dedicated to all those people who live in INDIA. Everyone must have, at some point or the other, experienced this phenomenon. Recently, I had been to the passport office in Chennai, to get a ECNR stamped onto it. It was during this time, that I got the real idea and a sense of urge to create a blog and put down my thoughts. I shall, in the course of this blog, re-live my experience.
I just went to the shastri bhavan office and went to enquire the procedure for getting the ECNR chappa on my passport. Boy, the sight I saw there was just brain storming. A trailer of people standing in a haphazard, so called queue. Not knowing quite what to do, I asked the guy in front whether this was the queue for enquiry and he gave a positive answer with a wide grin on his face. This grin of his, made me to further engage in a conversation with him, as I realized that it'll take at least an hour or two for me to go and ask the procedure. I just had this feeling "Why should all the people stand in just for enquring?", like. are there so many unresolved questions, probably, the thanks should go to the office for not providing the solutions on the web, I thought. Later, did I realize, how stupid I was, for all the FAQ's were indeed posted on the net, it was just that "we-the people" just do not go through them. We believe in listening all that we hear, rather than believing all that we see. We believe, that wasting a few minutes on net is precious, but do not mind standing in the sweltering heat for hours, basically to get the same information that we would have got it by going through the net.
"WE INDIANS ARE ALL THE SAME"- I am including myself too, in the top ;)
Ok, going back to my title, "ME FIRST"...what did this have to do with all the stuff, that I had written in the first paragraph. This, I knew after standing in the line for some time. A board said that "counter for enquiry open from 9:30 to 12". I checked my watch, it was 9:45. I just thought, in just 15 minutes, about 100 people have come and stood in the sun. I just wondered aloud and the man in front of me replied, most of the people have been standing from 7 in the morning. Nice way to get a good coat of tan on your skin; I thought, but the reality is that, people are just eager to get done with their work first. If one comes at 7:30, next day, there would be a couple of people standing from 7:15, and so on... This is where the "ME FIRST" attitude of the people surfaces. Everyone, is just so eager to get done with their work. I would not have put this down, if it was just one of the isolated incident, but that was not to be the case. After enquring, thanks to a friendly citizen, he told me what to do, and I did not have to stand in the queue till its destination. I was told that the counter opens at 9:45 in the morning and I will have to submit my form there and collect it the very same day. Cool enough , I thought, with this the man also said one more thing, " though the counter opens at 9:45, you'll have to be here by at least 7 in the morning, else you wouldn't get a chance to submit". Great, I thought, here I was, pushed by my own limitations, I would have to got there, if I had to get my job done, after all i'm in INDIA, a place where people want to out run the time, a place where people just beat the constraints they have, to get ahead.
I submitted my form and was asked to come at 2:15. This time , I needed no warning, I was there at the office, at 1:35 and I saw a queue, not very big though, but there it was, and I knew , I had to be better and faster next time around to be there in the first... "ME FIRST".....
But, tell me guys, dont you just think, if at all, in unison, we come at the specified timings, there wouldn't be queues, the process would be much simpler isnt't it??? it would be less pain stainking.. aint I right???? Be there at 9:45, the officer would just have come, ask him your queries and do accordingly, you would save much more time and energy, by not standing in the queue, in the sun, for hours... If, you are asked to go and collect at 2:15, all of you, come at that time, just go, collect and come back, you would save so much and this could be so resourceful.
and for all of you who are interested in knowing what happened to my passport status, well....
I GOT MY ECNR STAMPED!!!!!!!!
I just went to the shastri bhavan office and went to enquire the procedure for getting the ECNR chappa on my passport. Boy, the sight I saw there was just brain storming. A trailer of people standing in a haphazard, so called queue. Not knowing quite what to do, I asked the guy in front whether this was the queue for enquiry and he gave a positive answer with a wide grin on his face. This grin of his, made me to further engage in a conversation with him, as I realized that it'll take at least an hour or two for me to go and ask the procedure. I just had this feeling "Why should all the people stand in just for enquring?", like. are there so many unresolved questions, probably, the thanks should go to the office for not providing the solutions on the web, I thought. Later, did I realize, how stupid I was, for all the FAQ's were indeed posted on the net, it was just that "we-the people" just do not go through them. We believe in listening all that we hear, rather than believing all that we see. We believe, that wasting a few minutes on net is precious, but do not mind standing in the sweltering heat for hours, basically to get the same information that we would have got it by going through the net.
"WE INDIANS ARE ALL THE SAME"- I am including myself too, in the top ;)
Ok, going back to my title, "ME FIRST"...what did this have to do with all the stuff, that I had written in the first paragraph. This, I knew after standing in the line for some time. A board said that "counter for enquiry open from 9:30 to 12". I checked my watch, it was 9:45. I just thought, in just 15 minutes, about 100 people have come and stood in the sun. I just wondered aloud and the man in front of me replied, most of the people have been standing from 7 in the morning. Nice way to get a good coat of tan on your skin; I thought, but the reality is that, people are just eager to get done with their work first. If one comes at 7:30, next day, there would be a couple of people standing from 7:15, and so on... This is where the "ME FIRST" attitude of the people surfaces. Everyone, is just so eager to get done with their work. I would not have put this down, if it was just one of the isolated incident, but that was not to be the case. After enquring, thanks to a friendly citizen, he told me what to do, and I did not have to stand in the queue till its destination. I was told that the counter opens at 9:45 in the morning and I will have to submit my form there and collect it the very same day. Cool enough , I thought, with this the man also said one more thing, " though the counter opens at 9:45, you'll have to be here by at least 7 in the morning, else you wouldn't get a chance to submit". Great, I thought, here I was, pushed by my own limitations, I would have to got there, if I had to get my job done, after all i'm in INDIA, a place where people want to out run the time, a place where people just beat the constraints they have, to get ahead.
I submitted my form and was asked to come at 2:15. This time , I needed no warning, I was there at the office, at 1:35 and I saw a queue, not very big though, but there it was, and I knew , I had to be better and faster next time around to be there in the first... "ME FIRST".....
But, tell me guys, dont you just think, if at all, in unison, we come at the specified timings, there wouldn't be queues, the process would be much simpler isnt't it??? it would be less pain stainking.. aint I right???? Be there at 9:45, the officer would just have come, ask him your queries and do accordingly, you would save much more time and energy, by not standing in the queue, in the sun, for hours... If, you are asked to go and collect at 2:15, all of you, come at that time, just go, collect and come back, you would save so much and this could be so resourceful.
and for all of you who are interested in knowing what happened to my passport status, well....
I GOT MY ECNR STAMPED!!!!!!!!
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