Saturday, August 15, 2009

Independence for an IT guy in India

Me and my friends decided to celebrate our Independence day the same way we celebrate all the days that instill a spirited attitude. We clinked the glasses together and said cheers to a bright independent year ahead. A lot that a drunk man says makes sense if you are a type of person who gives importance to the things that come from the heart! I'm including as much of the discussion that happened as I can remember now:

Nair: "I was traveling on a train today and an old woman pointed out to me that this train infrastructure was brought to India by the British!"

PJ: "And what was your answer to it?"

Nair: "I started thinking and it occurred to me that almost all dependable structures that we have today were made by the British!"

PJ: "That is because those were things (like Railways) who's time had come and as they were responsible for doing things in India at that time, they had to build them. If India had been independent we would have done those ourselves!"

Nair: "But it was them who did it, if they were not here those things would not have come at all ..."

Mayank: "A man doesn't bring in an idea; an idea who's time has come makes a man an instrument to arrive into the world."

PJ: "Exactly, and those were ideas (things) that made the British an instrument to arrive 'cuz they were here at this time"

Nair: "If they were not here we would have been 50 different states fighting with each other all the time!"

PJ: "NO! If they were not here we would have been like the Europe; fights would have been there but ultimately an equilibrium would have been reached and all would have realized that progress is in mutual collaboration!"

Nair: "But we would have always been dependent on the 'white guy'. Even today our jobs are all because of the 'white guy', we work in Indian companies but our focus is to make them happy, lick their ass!"

PJ: "We work for them 'cuz they need us! No one's licking asses here buddy, its a win-win for both the parties."

Nair: "Then why do we have to stretch beyond our times and work even on weekends while they come and go according to their timings?"

PJ: "It all depends on their working culture versus our working culture!"

Nair: "HOW?"

PJ: "Their working culture involves parties, celebrations, short work hours, etc. while for us, we have a thing for hard work in our culture, right from the times when our forefathers tilled the land, we have always appreciated people who can work harder than expected. It is not a good/bad attitude, it's just how we are, that's all!"

Nair: "Then why don't I feel good about working my ass off even on weekends sometimes? I am patriotic too, what's the problem?"

PJ: "We complain and balk under heavy work and pressure 'cuz we are the 'golden children on India'!"

Gopi: "What? We are the golden children and I didn't know it till now!!!"

PJ: "See all I want to say is that we are somewhere in a transition. Our fathers were still the people who worked really hard (though they were not tilling the land) and we were comforted and cared for all the time, it has made us believe that life is supposed to be like that! When someone presses us for more we start to curse not just the 'white guy' but even our work itself!"

Nair: "How would things improve then?"

PJ: "Things are already improving by the minute. Our children (insahallah!) would be giving work to the 'white guy' soon. We're already acquiring companies in other countries, people from other countries are starting to work in Indian firms. And Indian models are becoming fairer, hopefully the irresistible charm of the 'white skin' would go away soon too!"

It's a happy day for India today! Lets celebrate our freedom and live it each minute, and discover a new meaning to freedom! Happy Independence day India!

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