The idea of writing blogs is just another instance which makes me realise that I think to do loads of things but many of them never take a form. I generally don’t admit but I now have to admit as my blogs are documented (key jargon in corporate world – nothing is valid unless its documented) and my previous blog is 7 months old.
I have started writing this at an altitude of 10,000 feet while coming back from Edinburgh to Mumbai, two main cities of great Nations whose social ideologies are very much different, so that I can put together my key new learning’s and perspectives about UK while they are fresh in my memory.
Key things that make UK a great place to stay and I would like my country to improve upon are
1. Responsibility of government – there are numerous benefits that the govt of UK is providing for all sectors of people which ensures none of the UK citizens suffer due to poverty. Govt provide weekly income for the unemployed, pension for old citizens, absolutely free health services, income for the pregnant women, numerous subsidies for the students etc., which in a way are making public misuse the liberty but ensuring all the citizens have a decent life.
2. Key characteristics (mentioning only positive side) of citizens – most impressive aspect is time management. 1 PM means 1PM itself. There is absolutely no tolerance on punctuality. And when the say something, they mean it and they would do it. UK folks deserve a pat for doing what they say and saying what they don’t do. In India most of us say and commit to many things but very few of them are actioned without any chasers or delays. Respect for others time for us is a distant dream because we don’t have enough respect for our time itself.
3. Being independent – as most of you know children don’t stay with their parents after certain age, generally 16 years. They have to do all their things on their own which makes them very independent and have a very practical approach towards life. Government provides lot of support by means of providing counsel houses (free hostel rooms), amount to survive themselves, health services etc., In India each one is a champ in delegating tasks leaving very little experience for the self and forcing us to be dependent on someone else.
4. Dignity of labour - there is absolutely no shy in saying what their profession is and the receptor also treats that profession equally important. Lot of students, irrespective of their fathers income work in the hotels, restaurants, night clubs etc., one of the daughters of a VP @ in a fortune 500 company(earning in punds) is working in a night club during weekends for her pocket money and it is quite natural with many of the youngsters. Loads of Indian jamindars who go for studies work in pizza huts and burger king’s whereas they don’t even lift their plates after eating while in India. Its just the magic words “Majority wins”.
The other side of this wonderful country which the world is going towards and which scares me the most as the fundamental principles will be shaken up
1. Aimless lives – majority of the people just takes the life as it comes and enjoyment for them would mean having loads and loads of drinks. They have very limited plans for their future. I have asked one of collegue what you want to do in future. He says “Mate, I m going to pub this Friday, going to my girlfriends place the next two days and comeback to f**ing work on Monday”. I asked him what you want to do after 10 years or so, he says “never thought of but probably would be drinking more beers with pretty girls and enjoy myself” And when he says these words he feels extremely happy as if he has invented preparation of alcohol and world is enjoying because of his invention.
2. Excess liberty – After around the age of 16 or 17, children generally stay away from their parents and they become very independent, at the same time, they have excess liberty to do what they want. During late teenage years where everyone has a general tendency to think he/she can do anything and everything, they start misusing this liberty and gets driven by activities which give pleasure temporarily. Staying with girlfriend/boyfriend is pretty common and changing them is even more common having very limited value to relationships. Pregnant women are given excess money (around 200 pounds a week) by the govt to take care of themselves, some ladies misuse this and at the tender age of 16 or 17 they become pregnant to reap these benefits and do an abortion after few months. If I am a recruiting officer of a company I would put them in the revenue department, so that they can explore all possible options to maximise revenues. With the kind of benefits that UK govt provide there should not be any beggars, but still there are a few generous people who provide opportunity to help by completely getting addicted to liquor, sex and drugs and spend out the money given by govt way before the intended usage period.
3. No family relations – majority of them don’t believe in family relationships. Forget about the good old combined family system people don’t like to stay with their own parents and siblings after a certain age. Once they stay apart from their parents, they visit their parents once in a while and parents are also happy thinking they now got some freedom and they can do what they want. They then start plans to do touring and stuff, so that they have one person less to spend now and no obligation. Infact some parents eagerly wait for their children to get into college to get rid of their responsibility.
The most scariest part is Indian youth are getting much attracted to this kind of lifestyle which temporarily might give some pleasure but in the long term they are going to be depressed and become aimless leaving misery for their family and for themselves. I wish each and every citizen should take the best qualities of these two great nations to build a better world for the generations to come.
Special thanks to Mr. Morcel Ji, Claudette, Neil Ji, Rudra, Murray, Passmore, Neha and My team who has provided me opportunities to know more about UK.
I have started writing this at an altitude of 10,000 feet while coming back from Edinburgh to Mumbai, two main cities of great Nations whose social ideologies are very much different, so that I can put together my key new learning’s and perspectives about UK while they are fresh in my memory.
Key things that make UK a great place to stay and I would like my country to improve upon are
1. Responsibility of government – there are numerous benefits that the govt of UK is providing for all sectors of people which ensures none of the UK citizens suffer due to poverty. Govt provide weekly income for the unemployed, pension for old citizens, absolutely free health services, income for the pregnant women, numerous subsidies for the students etc., which in a way are making public misuse the liberty but ensuring all the citizens have a decent life.
2. Key characteristics (mentioning only positive side) of citizens – most impressive aspect is time management. 1 PM means 1PM itself. There is absolutely no tolerance on punctuality. And when the say something, they mean it and they would do it. UK folks deserve a pat for doing what they say and saying what they don’t do. In India most of us say and commit to many things but very few of them are actioned without any chasers or delays. Respect for others time for us is a distant dream because we don’t have enough respect for our time itself.
3. Being independent – as most of you know children don’t stay with their parents after certain age, generally 16 years. They have to do all their things on their own which makes them very independent and have a very practical approach towards life. Government provides lot of support by means of providing counsel houses (free hostel rooms), amount to survive themselves, health services etc., In India each one is a champ in delegating tasks leaving very little experience for the self and forcing us to be dependent on someone else.
4. Dignity of labour - there is absolutely no shy in saying what their profession is and the receptor also treats that profession equally important. Lot of students, irrespective of their fathers income work in the hotels, restaurants, night clubs etc., one of the daughters of a VP @ in a fortune 500 company(earning in punds) is working in a night club during weekends for her pocket money and it is quite natural with many of the youngsters. Loads of Indian jamindars who go for studies work in pizza huts and burger king’s whereas they don’t even lift their plates after eating while in India. Its just the magic words “Majority wins”.
The other side of this wonderful country which the world is going towards and which scares me the most as the fundamental principles will be shaken up
1. Aimless lives – majority of the people just takes the life as it comes and enjoyment for them would mean having loads and loads of drinks. They have very limited plans for their future. I have asked one of collegue what you want to do in future. He says “Mate, I m going to pub this Friday, going to my girlfriends place the next two days and comeback to f**ing work on Monday”. I asked him what you want to do after 10 years or so, he says “never thought of but probably would be drinking more beers with pretty girls and enjoy myself” And when he says these words he feels extremely happy as if he has invented preparation of alcohol and world is enjoying because of his invention.
2. Excess liberty – After around the age of 16 or 17, children generally stay away from their parents and they become very independent, at the same time, they have excess liberty to do what they want. During late teenage years where everyone has a general tendency to think he/she can do anything and everything, they start misusing this liberty and gets driven by activities which give pleasure temporarily. Staying with girlfriend/boyfriend is pretty common and changing them is even more common having very limited value to relationships. Pregnant women are given excess money (around 200 pounds a week) by the govt to take care of themselves, some ladies misuse this and at the tender age of 16 or 17 they become pregnant to reap these benefits and do an abortion after few months. If I am a recruiting officer of a company I would put them in the revenue department, so that they can explore all possible options to maximise revenues. With the kind of benefits that UK govt provide there should not be any beggars, but still there are a few generous people who provide opportunity to help by completely getting addicted to liquor, sex and drugs and spend out the money given by govt way before the intended usage period.
3. No family relations – majority of them don’t believe in family relationships. Forget about the good old combined family system people don’t like to stay with their own parents and siblings after a certain age. Once they stay apart from their parents, they visit their parents once in a while and parents are also happy thinking they now got some freedom and they can do what they want. They then start plans to do touring and stuff, so that they have one person less to spend now and no obligation. Infact some parents eagerly wait for their children to get into college to get rid of their responsibility.
The most scariest part is Indian youth are getting much attracted to this kind of lifestyle which temporarily might give some pleasure but in the long term they are going to be depressed and become aimless leaving misery for their family and for themselves. I wish each and every citizen should take the best qualities of these two great nations to build a better world for the generations to come.
Special thanks to Mr. Morcel Ji, Claudette, Neil Ji, Rudra, Murray, Passmore, Neha and My team who has provided me opportunities to know more about UK.
errr... of all the beautiful, rather wonderful things UK govt provides to its citizens... did you happen to find out what it does to get the required amount for distribution?? The only possible reason i could think of is the "TAX" -- and how it's handled.
ReplyDeleteMore over, in INDIA with over 100 cr people, it would practically be impossible to eliminate the so called "poverty" because of the following reasons:
1. WE are more greedy and obsessed.
2. WE are not contended with what we have and always wants to have more!!
3. More importantly, WE care for our families... so much that we want the next 50 generations to live happily ever after we pass away.
Having said that, if there can be a fair chance given to the young blood(who really wants overall improvement as opposed to individual improvement) and a government is formed with a strong ethical foundation coupled with people's support and cooperation for the cause our so called "THE DREAM" would remain as a dream.
--- Attitude matter a lot, if you want to forsee a change.. change UR attitude.
Karthik.
Very well written blog buddy...
ReplyDeletehey..they are not aimless ppl... so many have passion for their work..most of em wont work only for money...thats y still they are innovating new things ... atleast in OIl field technology..
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFirst things first: nice, thought provoking article.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts:
Without discounting the fact that UK govt is more responsible in its actions compared to Indian govt, we also need to look at the choices as a govt. they have:
I have no idea about taxes in UK, but i am presuming they are less than the taxes rates in India. Since UK has less population compared to India and less people under the povertyline, their goverment should be in a good position to provide some of the facilities like free hostels etc. from the tax revenues they get.
India on the other hand, has more than 28% of the population below povertyline. Even many people above the povertyline itself are not eligible for taxation, because of their poor income. So government has less revenues (and in these revenues, some part goes in to politicians pockets for sure, but lets not get into that discussion now).
India has 54% of land under cultivation. Close to 60% of the people earn livelihood from agri related activities, but still the agricultural growth rate is close to 2% in the last decade. This only means peoples' standards are not improving at a desired rate becuase of outdated methodologies employed in agriculture, scant attention being paid to and disguised unemployment. There is nothing to balme farmers or agri labour. They are helpless.
Therefore, main problems facing India are poverty and population growth. Conventionally, the plan is to eradicate poverty and control population growth by improving education and health facilities besides providing livelihood opportunities.
If we look at the public expenditure on education as % of total government expenditure, India with a literacy rate around 55% is spending 10% of money on education, whereas countries like US, with 99% litercay rate are spending 14%. Similarly, Indian govt. expenditure on health care is 2%. These expenditure figures are only allocations. Given the corruption, the real spending would be awfully less.
So, what has caused all this ? Poor government ? I dont agree, because government means people. Poor government only means poor people, which leaves us with no other option than to put our country in someone elses hand to rule. Which we all hated once.
If the goverment is irresponsible, its becasue they know how to be irresponsible and yet get away with it. Govt. will be irresponsible as long as the citizens allow that. The laternative is: teach a lesson. Make your vote count. Vote for Lok Satta!!
Dignity of labour and being independent in thoughts is something that we have to learn from them. I dont agree that they have aimless lives. Most people might not go ahead and state something because when they do so they really mean it (as you mentioned in your other point). In our case its not necessary. For example, if anyone asks us what is your aim in life, we start thinking then, and give some answers in a minute. (Its like asking: what is that you are most afraid of ? The answer is nothing. But people start thinking and comparing and finally give some answer)
Thanks for reading my scramble headed commentary.
This is Sireesh signing off from Hong Kong. Its 12:30 AM, and I have office tomorrow. Good night.
A good insight of both the cultures, Written very well. I would take a stand on the point that, each individual whether here or in UK should be bought up with the moral, social, economic and spiritual counsciousness, which would set them on the right path in life that is a focussed approach to life.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys for going thr the blog completely. Sorry for replying late..
ReplyDeleteRegarding taxes. Yeah the majority of the income is from taxes intself. I think they have slab rates of 20% 40% and 50%(HNI's) depending on their income levels.
Aimless life - As Sireesh pointed out, unless they are completely sure they might not have revelead it but I didnot find many people passionate about future.
Cheers