I spent the last 5 days in Delhi before leaving for the States. The heat was brutal — a noticeable difference compared to Pune, but it somehow became secondary when I realized my purpose. That has been a general theme throughout my trip: sacrifice for the mission at hand, target the next milestone, concentrate on building a business but remain flexible at all times. Adapting the business is key to survival even if you have to iterate early on. (But that does not mean that Apple gets a pass for iterating their way out of India —- that was simply management gown awry.)
I am in Paris at the moment waiting for my flight back to ATL. There is a rather new, nonstop-direct flight from Delhi to Newark that I might try, if the price is right, for my next visit to India. Stopping in Europe is becoming quite tedious, but not nearly as painful as crossing over the Pacific when you originate on the East Coast. The Singapore and HK airports are considered world-class facilities, but I hate spending time in either place.
Speaking of world-class facilities, if the Delhi Metro is any indicator of what future infrastructure in India will be like: watch out! In all my years of travelling to India I have never seen such well run (and spotless) infrastructure. It has been a smashing success on all fronts. I cannot wait to see India transform into a juggernaut, but it will only come with two major changes in my opinion: adoption of civic duty amongst the people and upgraded infrastructure. Interestingly, the infrastructure part will be the easier of the two. Maintaining and respecting it for use by others is the difficult part.
I am openly a critic of the US government at various times on many fronts. I think it is part of my responsibility as an American citizen to dissent when I feel appropriate, but let me give some props where it is due as well. We are taught the value of civic responsibility early in life in the US and in many other Western countries, but that hasn’t historically been the case in India. The various governments in the US do public service announcements on a whole host of subjects that, in my opinion, have a slow yet assured positive impact on the behavior of the citizens. We see television campaigns on littering, drug abuse, AIDS, birth control, and racial tolerance. Some might argue that it’s common sense to cherish thy neighbor and not to litter, but it’s not —- it’s learned behavior. We’re taught in the US that with independence comes individual responsibility for the greater good of society.
From my observations and the agreement of several family members, survivial mentality in India breeds a level of selfish behavior that focuses on one’s immediate surroundings. Look no further than the “society” or neighborhood in which one lives. Their house and neighborhood will be spotless, but immediately outside those four walls could be a completely different place. I’m not assigning any blame — just commenting on an observation. My own relatives are plagued by this: survival mentality, even in middle to upper-class tiers of wealth, fails to breed civic responsibility. This exists everywhere, but is just more distinct in India.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Civic responsibility is a lot easier when you have enough money to feed your family. My guess is that with economic gains, and growth in prosperity, more and more people will have time for civic responsibility. Seems like there are plenty of other countries, with different kinds of societies, but there’s a pretty good correlation between garbage in the streets and poverty.
There certainly is a correlation to “garbage in the streets and poverty,” but my point is that the lack of civic responsibility in India extends itself to even the middle to upper-class.
The majority of my Indian family members are middle-class urbanites who were not raised with the thought that their actions have a profound effect on society in the long-term.