Cost of Cleanliness

For past few there is lot of talk on the filth and anarchy at Commonwealth Games preparations in Delhi. Western countries have been particularly upset about the conditions. One of the organising officials attributed this cultural differences in perception. There was big hue and cry against this officer. But the fact that what he said is really true. Be it cultural or genetic or something else, Indians ARE unclean, undesciplined, lethargic. You go anywhere in India, you will find these characteristics abundant. Those are some of 'unity in diversity' specialities. Indians might be unique in the amount of filth they crate around themselves, in the degree of recklessness about their own lives, and so on.

In a different perspective this lethargy has benefits attached to it. Indians did not go around marauding and massacring in the name of peace, trade, conquest or politics. Indians do not terrorize countries in 'war on terror'. Indians did not erase forests for Indonesia to Africa to Brazil. Indians did not plunder natural resources, be it underground, on surface or in sky, as if those are infinite, as if they are costless, as if they have no waste.

Indians do have their own houses dirty, shabby, smoky etc. Their backyards are worse. And then there are societies who have great houses, and they have big pipelines throwing all their waste beyond their neighborhood. Its no coincidence that casting and hot forging industries in India boomed the time Europe tightened pollution laws and increased energy tariffs. Now Europe boasts of clean air and scoff at smogs in India and China. Unfortunately smogs are not like rocks, they spread.

I am not sure who is worse, the man who lives in filthy house or the man who keeps his clean and throws his filth all across continents. There must be some mid-way which can be called good.

WTF, why should I care! My economy is doing great in automatic single-use products that I manufacture and sell. But I am aware that when I point one finger at anybody, other three fingers are pointing at myself. This humility is a door towards brightness into long future ahead.