YoYo,
While lazing around in the office this afternoon I read about aamchi Mumbai being voted as the rudest city in the world. Reader Digest, a publication for which I have the utmost respect and which I have been avidly reading since childhood was the one who did the survey.What RD did was to have their representatives drop pieces of paper on the road and see if someone would pick it up and hand it over. They also noted who openened doors and which shopkeeper said Thank-You to customers. Based on this they rated the city as being rudest in the world.
My first reaction on reading this was "So what ?" Seriously, what is the point of the exercise ? I mean it's not going to stop a curious tourist from visiting or an entrepreneur from investing. As for the Mumbaikar he does not care two hoots !
I have friends and relatives from the city and have visited the city innumerable times. I can relate to the Mumbaikars attitude. Mumbai is one of the world largest metropolis. Starting from the hawker on Chowpatty to Ambani in his plush sea front office , everyone is busy. Everyone is there for a purpose, with a motive in mind. There is no time to waste. Catching trains, filling water in buckets early morning, dealing with incessant rains and poor infrastructure,cooking food for the family, taking care of old aji-ajoba in the house and making ends meet. The average Mumbaikar is simply overwhelmed just living his daily life.He knows life only one way. And that is the scrap dog mentality. Fight for everything. Keep an eye out for the empty seat on the crowded bus and the other on the mawali who has been staring at you since the longest time. Between all this where is the time to pick up papers and open restaurant doors ? I am sure people in other plush European countries dont have to deal with this shit. I have been in situations where I have been w/o electricity for a few hours and next day that becomes the topic of discussion in office.Do they ever have to worry @ potholed roads and about having enough supply of water to last the day? These things are like breathing for others. For Mumbai its a luxury. I beleive the Mumbaikars behavior is a direct result of his surroundings. He does not mean to be rude. He simply does not know of another way.
I also feel very strongly that genuine manners and being nice is one thing and "being nice" on the surface is another. In the western world due to a lack of good social interaction or lack of family values ( as compared to the tightly knit family structure in Asian communities ) people often want to be friendly or at least act friendly with whoever and whomever they see. Its basic human nature to be wanted and to be social. I find it ironic that you open doors to restaurants for people you dont know but close the doors of your house for your old man who is struggling to make ends meet by flipping burgers.
Mumbai is an world unto itself and that is precisely why such a generalisation wont do. For me it's a snapshot of India itself and if this implies that India is the rudest country in the world I wouldnt have a problem with it either ! I would ratherbe genuinely nice to my people rather than artificially mouth meaningless Thank you's and welcomes to every Tom, Dick and Harry I see on my Blvd. It makes you feel nice on the surface but that's where it ends. And perhaps the RD should do a survey on Most resilient City. I have no doubt who will top that !!
While lazing around in the office this afternoon I read about aamchi Mumbai being voted as the rudest city in the world. Reader Digest, a publication for which I have the utmost respect and which I have been avidly reading since childhood was the one who did the survey.What RD did was to have their representatives drop pieces of paper on the road and see if someone would pick it up and hand it over. They also noted who openened doors and which shopkeeper said Thank-You to customers. Based on this they rated the city as being rudest in the world.
My first reaction on reading this was "So what ?" Seriously, what is the point of the exercise ? I mean it's not going to stop a curious tourist from visiting or an entrepreneur from investing. As for the Mumbaikar he does not care two hoots !
I have friends and relatives from the city and have visited the city innumerable times. I can relate to the Mumbaikars attitude. Mumbai is one of the world largest metropolis. Starting from the hawker on Chowpatty to Ambani in his plush sea front office , everyone is busy. Everyone is there for a purpose, with a motive in mind. There is no time to waste. Catching trains, filling water in buckets early morning, dealing with incessant rains and poor infrastructure,cooking food for the family, taking care of old aji-ajoba in the house and making ends meet. The average Mumbaikar is simply overwhelmed just living his daily life.He knows life only one way. And that is the scrap dog mentality. Fight for everything. Keep an eye out for the empty seat on the crowded bus and the other on the mawali who has been staring at you since the longest time. Between all this where is the time to pick up papers and open restaurant doors ? I am sure people in other plush European countries dont have to deal with this shit. I have been in situations where I have been w/o electricity for a few hours and next day that becomes the topic of discussion in office.Do they ever have to worry @ potholed roads and about having enough supply of water to last the day? These things are like breathing for others. For Mumbai its a luxury. I beleive the Mumbaikars behavior is a direct result of his surroundings. He does not mean to be rude. He simply does not know of another way.
I also feel very strongly that genuine manners and being nice is one thing and "being nice" on the surface is another. In the western world due to a lack of good social interaction or lack of family values ( as compared to the tightly knit family structure in Asian communities ) people often want to be friendly or at least act friendly with whoever and whomever they see. Its basic human nature to be wanted and to be social. I find it ironic that you open doors to restaurants for people you dont know but close the doors of your house for your old man who is struggling to make ends meet by flipping burgers.
Mumbai is an world unto itself and that is precisely why such a generalisation wont do. For me it's a snapshot of India itself and if this implies that India is the rudest country in the world I wouldnt have a problem with it either ! I would ratherbe genuinely nice to my people rather than artificially mouth meaningless Thank you's and welcomes to every Tom, Dick and Harry I see on my Blvd. It makes you feel nice on the surface but that's where it ends. And perhaps the RD should do a survey on Most resilient City. I have no doubt who will top that !!
3 comments:
Sujya...
Rightly said every word of it. I believe no one in India can have any other say on this article. Though I feel "being nice" on the surface helps many a times and its not bad to start doing something like this here; reasons for not doing so are many and can really be justified. I still use this wherever possible and honestly it feels better.
The org. where I work security guards and housekeepers are the fellows who never get any recognition...you use a simple "Hi, good morning" and I ve seen their faces lighten up and may even make them feel good about their contributions...and now we even know each other by our names. Being nice at home..yes we are good at it..."being nice" outside, well theres no harm done.
The competition is intense here at all levels(shud I mention it ;-))...doesnt matter if you are a PMC street sweeper, IT exec or Anil Ambani. Being rude is a natural response to situations like these, I ve seen the "IT Pros" pushing each other to get on to the bus to office...as u rightly said they dont know the other way. What we really need is guys who are not only "being nice" on the surface but genuinely nice while being outside. What wud you choose to do, Push a guy out of ure way to a vacant seat or stand for 30 mins to office and let that chap have the seat. I feel only the nice guys are aware of the choice they have or if theirs any other way. Boss even a s/w system is designed to "share" the resources...then why cant we?
Cannot agree more. Seriously, who the f cares about Mumbai being rude. RD seems to have too much time on its hands.
Yeah, I know. The rudest city test doesn't really apply in this context. There was a great rebuttal about it by Suketu in yesterday's WSJ.
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