culture shock

The main definition of culture shock is when a person migrates from his or her area of inhabitance to another area which is completely alien to him/her and where he/she finds persons with altogether different lifestyle.  I can say that I experienced a similar thing in my life when I shifted from my city of residence to another for employment purposes.  First it was to Raipur, then in MP, from Nagpur.  The Chhattisgarhi language was totally new to me and could only start to understand a little of it after many months.  Also the food taste was quite different from what I was accustomed to.  The second time it happened in my life was when I shifted to Hyderabad from Pune.  Here again, the only staple diet of the people is idli, dosa, and rice which too I found difficult to adjust to, and not to mention the Telugu language which is quite difficult to understand.

जेव्हा एक व्यक्ती एका क्षेत्रातून दुसऱ्यात राहण्याकरिता जातो आणी तिथलं राहणं खाणं, जिवनशैली त्याच्यासाठी नवीन असतं, माझ्या मताप्रमाणे ह्याला परकीयकरण असे म्हणतात.   माझ्या जीवनात असे दोनदा घडले.  पहिल्यांदा जेव्हा मी नोकरी संदर्भात नागपुरहून रायपुरला गेलो, मला वाटते मला पर्कियकरणाचि जाणीव झाली.  तिथली छत्तिस्गढी भाषा, तिथली राहणी खाणी मला बरीच अनोळखी होती.  तिथली थोडिफार भाषा समजुन घ्यायला मला बराच काळ लागला.  हा अनुभव माझ्या आयुष्यात दुसऱ्यांदा तेंव्हा आला जेव्हा मी पुण्याहुन हैदराबादला आलो.  इथलं हवामान, राहणे , इडली, दोसा, व भात खाणे, ह्या सगळ्या गोष्टींमुळे मला परकीयकरण अनुभवायला मिळाले .  त्याहून कठीण इथली तेलुगु भाषा जी समजायला फारच अवघड आहे.

Letter to the Prime Minister

A letter to the PM


Respected Mr. Modi:

Your idea of Swachha Bharat is no doubt very innovative and a need of the hour, but I very much doubt its success, which I think, you also know.  I think the main reason behind its late success is lack of education in our country.  I always believe that 90% of Indians are bloody illiterates, govt. figures notwithstanding.  What I mean to say is Indians lack civic sense and to teach them such a thing we need to give proper education and inculcate good habits.  I am not saying that I am not in the 90% lot, no, because many times I find myself in such a situation where I have to either throw something by the side of the road or even more attend a nature's call as there are no proper facilities of either a dustbin or a toilet.  I know this is going to take a lot of time, a lot of effort and many more years.

I think it is in the genes of us Indians to litter around and live in filth.  It is a well known fact that Indians who go abroad for greener pastures are mostly brainy guys, "brain drain" as we call it.  But in other countries too Indians are known to litter around.  It does mean that even the most brainy and well educated persons are in the habit of, nay love to live in filth.  It is so much so that that I heard in Singapore the dirtiest area of that country is where the Indians live.

Is there is any solution  to this?  Of course,  there is and that is education and only education.  What I think the biggest factor going against your idea of Swachha Bharat is the indiscriminate  use of plastic bags.  I sincerely request you to completely ban the use of plastic bags in all its shapes and sizes even if that means bringing in draconian laws just like they have in Singapore where a person is fined $500 for spitting in the open.  I know the task is difficult but not achievable.

Regards,

Rohit Badhe

spendthrift

why be a spendthrift? is it wrong if I ask my wife to save and spend less? are we earning millions per day? once in a while its okay, by why every now and then? cant she control her desires? I do think having self-control is the biggest achievement, that's what I learned when I did vipassana course.  that was an eye opener.  there he taught us to meditate, to concentrate, to control ourselves, self-control.  a few days back I quarreled with my wife over buying ice-cream.  she was supposed to buy only one for our son, but when she went inside the shop, she bought 2 family packs.  the shopkeeper told her its buy one get one and in fact I know that brand, Amul, its not buy one get one.  even if you buy one pack, you get it at half the amount, no need to buy two.  they do sell a single pack.  but she being spendthrift and very headstrong, why would she listen to me?  I dont say that she doesnt indulge in saving for our future, for our son, but still whenever you can get a chance to save, do it.  have self-control.  in fact in addition to the two packs, she bought one single cup for our son who finished it by the time we came home.  anyways.

so, its a fact that workload has gone down where I work presently and now its time to shift.  i called up my previous employer in the evening and he has called me tomorrow to have an informal chat.  let's see what it turns out to be.  what i heard from my colleagues from the earlier employer that workflow has increased here and he is adding persons to boost his strength.  the only deterrent may be a longer travel as they have shifted from where the office was located to a little distance away which may be a little far for me.  but if he agrees to employ me on the previous terms and conditions, i dont mind the distance to travel.   my condition remains no night shift and fixed salary plus incentives.  i do hope he agrees to it.  

goodbye pune?

Is it time to say goodbye to Pune?  I think yes.  But why? enough of this city, got bored.   its become too crowded.  I have been here for a decade now, enough is enough.  but going where? north, east, or south?  let me see.  North is a costly affair.  what about south? acute water shortage.  i don't know how people manage there.  East? an explored frontier for a westerner like me.  no water shortage and inflation is low.  This is from the feedback that I got from a colleague of mine who belongs to that place.  when that guy has come here, why do I have to go there? the answer is same when you ask why Indians go abroad.  What about pay package, obviously higher, otherwise why would I think about it in first place.  What about the job? the company is stable, in existence since more than a decade so much so that the employees working there are unknown in the market because hardly anybody leaves the job, so satisfied are they, and the headcount is more than 50 that's what I heard.  Once I like the place and the job and decide to settle down there, family can move in.  But wait, do I smell a UK somewhere in between.  Wow, won't it be fascinating going there and working and earning some money some of which can be sent home.

Okay!!! had a talk with my cousin who lives in Cambridge for the last six months.  Though he is not in the same profession as me, but he says there are three big hospitals where I can try for a job.  I have forwarded him a completely new and redrafted resume.  He also said he is friends with a Romanian physician who can perhaps help me get a job there.  Once the resume is accepted, I will be facing a video interview on Skype.  After the interview is over and final salary is decided, the hospital will issue me a work permit initially for three years renewable for another three years later on.

A former colleague of mine from Nagpur who is married and settled in London had worked in one of the hospitals there.  She worked as a medical PA.  The nature of work is totally different than what I am doing here.  The job is very interesting and enjoyable.  It involves calling the patients to schedule their appointments, liaison with other hospitals, proofreading letters, etc.  In short the job is more of an admin job rather than headphone usage.  What a relief would it be if I get such a job, and that too five days in a week. That does mean on weekends I can do something else, maybe a part-time job. But where? maybe a job in the essential services sector like petrol pump attendant or maybe a taxi driver.  You may say why I am thinking of such a job for a person like me.  Why not, there's nothing wrong in it.  After all work is worship, whatever the job might be, and as long as it is a blue or white collar job, I don't see any wrong in it.  The only stumbling block to go there might be the work permit.  My colleague said that normally the job of a medical secretary may not fetch me a work permit, but a medical PA can, though vacancies for this type are few.  If luck has it, I will get it and that is in His hands.  Amen. 

atrocious!

Deep rooted casteism has taken its toll again.  In the lawless land of UP, two teenaged girls were raped and then hanged from a tree.  Why? because they belonged to a lower caste of dalits.  And who were the perpetrators? men from upper caste yadavs.  Is that the only reason to commit the crime? yes that is the one and only reason.  Have the culprits been caught? not all, and to say two of the four guys were policemen.  what was the reaction of the govt of that state? the bloody rascal CM tells one lady journalist, why do you need to worry when you are safe.  I think his wife should also get the same treatment then he will know how safe women are in UP.

Like I said in my earlier post, in India, for centuries, caste tradition is being practiced.  No one knows when this all began, there are no definite records.  It is so ensconced in the Indian society that it will take a whole lot of centuries to do away with it and for the people to rise above it.  But thank God, because of educations, today's youth are crossing the barriers of caste, creed, and religion and increasingly getting into inter-caste and inter-religious marriages.  If this keeps happening, the day is not far away when all the castes and creeds in India will get mixed up and pure humanity will prevail.  But for that India has to be 100% literate which is far a distant dream.

past event

In India, a boy having a girlfriend or vice-versa is itself an unusual thing especially in smaller towns and villages where the mindsets of people is fairly conservative.  in fact in many communities its a crime if a boy gets married to a girl outside of his community.  At such times, the elders of that community punish the couple either by boycotting them and their families or straightaway driving them out of their place of stay.  in fact in may instances, either the boy or the girl or sometimes both of them get murdered because they refused to part with each other.

i remember an event happen in my life related to the same, honor killing.  a male friend of my cousin brother had come to study in my city from another town.  he was from a farmer's family and so belonged to a middle class community.  During the course of his stay in the city, he fell in love with a girl who was from a rich family and who lived in the same locality as he did.  over a period of time the girl too accepted him and they decided to get married without informing the girl's parents.  to register their marriage, both of them went to another city along with their friends to complete the formalities.  when a boy student falls in love, it usually happens that he loses interest in studies and starts failing exams.  this same happened with this guy and he eventually gave up studies and started working in marketing field since he now was married and was in need of running the household.  I too helped him in setting up his home by helping him to some extent.  As time went by, he became a father of a son.  one fine day, all of a sudden he left my city and moved back to his native place.  Over the course of  time, another son was born in the family.  A few months after that, the girl and her two kids were back at her parents' home since her husband had died in an automobile accident.  Though it proved to be an accident, but there is no doubt and it can be concluded that the accident was made to happen.  the girl's parents being wealthy, they could easily afford to spend a few million rupees on hiring a person to get the accident done.

Although both the girl and the boy belonged to the same community, but because of vast difference in their family's wealth, the boy was never acceptable to the girl's parents or for that matter her father who never visited his daughter's house even when she had become a mother, which her mother and sister did.  this ill-tradition of honor killing is being practiced in this country since ages and in fact is increasing day by day. it is mostly prevalent in the northern part of India as compared to the rest of the country.  the one reason for this may be that in India there are many communities, castes and sub-castes. it is so complex that an outsider will never get an idea of what is happening.  I think India is the only country in the world that comprises so many religions, communities, languages, castes and sub-castes.  almost all the religions of the world exist in India and in fact India is the place where not one but four religions took birth.

The only way to weed out this corrupt practice is through education.  it is indeed very necessary that Indian people rise out of the grip of casteism and embrace humanity as the only religion.  

Turning Point

Now, I would like to start getting writing jobs online.  I discovered I can write quite well when I appeared for IELTS exam several years back.  In that exam, I scored the maximum for writing, a score of 8 with the maximum being 9.  Also I used to help school going kids of neighbors with their essays which were quite appreciated by their teachers.  this made me think that yes i can write.  in fact, nowadays i am completing writing assignments for my son.  i think i can write essays, short stories, etc. the only thing i need is a topic to write on.  a friend of mine in the office suggested that if you cant think of a topic, better start writing about your experiences in life.  that is a very good suggestion.  every person has his/her own experiences in life which i think are unique.  to pen the same is really exciting especially if it gives out a lesson to others.  in fact that friend used to write for a local language newspaper in his home state for a few months which he later stopped once he became busy in his job.  what I am going to do is pen down some stories, the idea may be copied from few magazines which i am reading presently, put it in my own words and send it as samples for the client to go through before they give out work to me.