Certain traits are deep rooted!

Yesterday was a strange day. We were on our way to J P Nagar to inspect our apartment and I had brushes with two different vehicles. The first was a lady on a scooter, whose shoulder pushed against the right side mirror. Luckily it folded backwards and no damage done. I think she managed to avoid hitting the side of our car even though she was sandwiched between us and a bus. God bless her!

Actually the bus would not have been on that lane in any disciplined and a civilised city. Also there was no need for her to push past us. We were all waiting for the traffic light to turn. But this is India and we are Indians and we cannot wait!

Then the road got narrow and a large road divider made it very tight. Suddenly a bus came parallel to our car from the left, too close for Tara's comfort! Normally I yield, but yesterday I decided to keep my nerve and kept driving parallel to him and suddenly there was a sound and the left side mirror folded. The bus raced past and stopped just ahead of me at the red light. Later I discovered that there was more damage, he had dented the mudguard as well.

Again there was no need for the driver to do this, just to go ahead and stop. But we are Indians and he had to show who is mightier! I am certain he had a swipe at my car on purpose, because he was trying to get ahead of me and I did not let him.

But Tara thinks it was an accident and said it was my fault to have kept so close to him! I agree it is better not to challenge the macho bus drivers. I was stupid, but I suppose a dent to my pride would have been more serious than a dent on the car!

We then went to see our apartment and saw stranger things . We have all seen pictures of the footprints on the bed in the rooms of the CWG village. My first reaction was; 'why would anyone do this?' I can understand dirty toilets and washbasins which as Mr. Bhanot says is no big deal, but foot prints on the bed I could not comprehend.

I was in for a surprise when I walked in to our floor of the apartment complex. They are one of the well known Private Builders and I did not expect this:

Saw this is on the corridors as we entered our apartment.

I suppose it does not matter now as this is outside our apartment and they would eventually take care.


Then we saw a few cracked tiles and wondered 'why did the builders invite us to inspect', before taking care of such obvious defects. Now they need another month to repair, but are ready to hand over to us for doing the interiors with a promise to take care of this later!

The project was delayed by more than a year and the story is that they are short of skilled workers for the interiors. We all have lost money because of the delays, for the rework done and the work is still shoddy.
As I walked out saw two young workers in the corridor and one of them was actually damaging the wall just for fun! I could not take a picture as he was vandalising but here is a picture of the damage. Would have been more, if I had not caught him in the act. I asked him 'why' and just gave me a stupid grin!

Why this negative attitude from our workers? It doesn't seem to matter whether they are at the CWG or at a presitigious private project.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I think it is not an attitude problem of only the workers, but inherently we are dishonest and proud people. Dishonest in what we are supposed to deliver, our lack of committment, lack of respect for other's money and time. What to say, when I have to pay a bribe to pay my own house tax. With time our thoughts and expectations have been adulterated too and therefore all these daily nuisance, that will never be accepted in civilised world is a way of life in India.... Are we really progressing? Thanks for the article Nidhi uncle - Shri
Nandini Shrinidhi said…
Appa, please send it to the builder. And if you can send it to the CEO, then maybe it'll have an effect. And if you don't hear from them, publish the name of the builder.

-nandini
Gayathri said…
Nidhi, that's really really sad. Attitudes on the road, reactions within a residential construction site - they all appear to stem from some kind of power play, whatever the levels of society. It manifests itself in different forms all over the world I guess! The tendency to vandalize & hold people to ransom,and aggressive patterns of behavior are characteristics of a bully - I think we all grow up with such a high level of control and expectations from every direction, that given a chance, we have to exercise our own "power play"! Your pictures said it all.
Viji said…
sad but true.... it happens only in India...
rohini said…
I agree with nandini. very sad...just today i bought a potted plant to gift to a friend...the lady at the store took so much effort to make it look pretty...she took so much pride in the way it looked after that she showed it to another colleague. I guess that must be missing the pride of workmanship and thinking why bother when we are not going to get anything for it.
VATSALA said…
We are still in the process of accepting the vehicle as a legitimate part of ones necessities. Car possesion is still a landmark in ones progression, hence, the pride. As for buses might is right.
The second experience is a lack of pride in our job. We have a long way to go!
NSM said…
Not to justify but...
This could be due to the fact that 1. There is a widening gap between the "haves"(Like Nidhi uncle & a lot of us) & the "have nots" (Bus drivr, construction worker).
2. The "have nots" have been given a right of expressing by vandalising / breaking the rule ( a hangover of fighting the British? Burn clothes, break law & get into Jail - take pride in doing so)

Probable way to correct this....
1. Having dignity of labour of the "haves" treating the "have nots" well...
2. Strict laws against vandalising.

A tough set to follow...
Regards
Mohan

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