Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Five reasons I am angry this bright Tuesday morning

I live in a country where a woman chief minister can attribute the awful, unforgiveable crime of rape to men and women, boys and girls actually acknowledging each other's existence on the same planet, and she can remain in office. This leader seems not to know the difference between violent assault and voluntary holding of hands, and she is expected to make and enforce laws.

I live in a country where feudal dens of patriarchy that have consistently defied the Constitution of my country are allowed to function. These community 'leaders' can attribute the unforgiveable crime of rape to the eating of chowmein, and they are not taken to the nearest mental asylum to be locked up until their own hormonal or moral imbalances are sorted out.

I live in a country where a popular Punjabi rapper sings of bloodying panties and instead of being being spanked bloody (I'm almost certain he secretly longs for this), he's given work in the mainstream Hindi film industry. Not one singer/lyricist/filmmaker sees it fit to send him to the re-education program he very obviously needs. I live in a country where it seems people fork over their hand-earned money to pack concerts where this creature performs, and I can't do a damn thing about it.

I live in a country where I suspect bribes were paid on my account (though without my knowledge) to enable me to rent a house. And I can't do a damn thing about that either because there's no way of proving anything now, and if I tried, I'd only raising hell for both the real estate agents who were helping me actually find a place.

I live in a country where no service - public, private or cooperative - responds easily to any kind of customer request. Whether it is information or the actual service being offered, you have to claw your way to it. And despite the internet being available, there is no way of reaching companies or their complaint addressal systems. You send an email, no response. You call and you refer to the email, no response. You shout and threaten an escalation of the issue at hand, and you may get a tiny grudging response. You will probably still have to spend time and money going to their offices and drain yourself out by shouting some more.

And it bothers me because things don't work like this in other countries. We do not have to be this way. We want to 'develop' but our idea of development is building glass-fronted stores instead of actually providing the service or product those stores contain. I'm sure the executives who man the customer call phone lines like to shop for foreign brands in new malls. They just don't want to be as good as the best brands who snap to attention the moment a customer expresses dissatisfaction. And I am tired and drained by the whole mess before I've even had breakfast.




6 comments:

Arch said...

I totally absolutely share your anger.

Roy said...

amen!

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Tushar Mangl said...

We just love to shout to anyone who has ears that We are a democracy
Democracy we are
since 1947.

And at times I think, democracy may be India's only achievement ever but then a democracy without conscience is like vegetables without salt??? sorry can't think of a better example :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Annie your anger is not without reason! But to continue in this mood from the morning and throughout the day will give you a cardiac arrest before dinner! I own one of the best background checks agency in Mumbai and I can tell you I used to share the same anger and disillusionment but some of it has tempered after the unrest in the Middle Eastern countries put things in a better perspective for me. Here are the things that make me thankful that I live in a country like India: we have freedom of the press, we are a democracy not a dictatorship where the dictator can defile, pee upon and rape young teenaged girls in his harem and get away with it, women have freedom to work and live their own life, we live in a peaceful country mostly devoid of large scale unrest or civil war, there is optimism, cheer and happiness in most people's lives as the economy roars and surges ahead, jobs are aplenty and the youth unlike in other parts of the world mostly are able to secure jobs if they are sensible and hardworking, we have some of the finest educational institutes in South Asia and indeed the world, our leaders are money-thirsty and power-thirsty but not blood-thirsty and that is always a good thing! We sing, dance, exult at the slightest opportunity something that is exemplified by our cinema and our festivals. We have some of the most beautiful people with the best physical features livings among us. We are India - one of the world's oldest nation. We are nuclear armed and possess the second largest army in the world. So we have nothing to fear. We are a huge nation with multi cultural people bound together as one country which is an anomaly. Give India a chance! Sunita Banerji. www.allianceonemumbai.com

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