Everytime I crib about some process, system, public service to my friends I am bombarded by "If you don't like it here why don't you go live abroad" or "You are not proud to be an Indian you should have been born in America Instead".
Well I don't agree with these people. And infact I think it is these educated people who themselves by saying all of the above have what we call in India the "Chalta hai attitude"
I pay 35% of my income in tax. Then with what is left i am either paying 12.5-20% VAT or 10.3% service tax or both for anything I buy or use. In effect I am giving away 50% of my hard earned money to the Gutterment (government).
Yet for that 50 % given way I cannot
get good smooth roads to drive on
use the public health facilities
use the public education system
get germ free drinking water in my tap
open a restaurant without 25 permits and bribes
travel through customs 10 times out of 10 without being harassed
the list goes on and on
The sad truth is that in the year 2011 the 21st century, except for Bombay none of the other "metro" cities have 24X7X365 electricity. God help the Indian in smaller towns when his turn will come !
Even in the metros we don't have proper healthcare , schooling, drainage and drinking water !
These are the basics of quality of life.....something many of the western cities got by the 70s itself.
Yet instead of bashing the gutterment for letting us down, hauling them over the coals of the mind-boggling number of scams....2G, commonwealth, swiss banks,etc......what do we do ?
We accept it......fooling ourselves that ohhh....India is a poor country, we are new nation, these things take time, etc.
And diss the guy who moans about it. Asking him to leave or accept it. Well No ! I am not leaving ! And I am going to complain....bec i pay my taxes....and i have a right as a citizen to get something in return ! And I have a right to want my country to improve and for the citizens to get their due and not for the money they contribute to be lost in greed and corruption !
Friday, March 11, 2011
The Business ? no Art ?..no... Joy of Giving :)
This week whilst visiting a good Bombay hospital for a regular checkup of my Mom I stumbled across a little girl in a wheelchair with her mom. She apparentaly was suffering from some birth defect which I judged by her slightly disfigured face. But what was most upsetting was to see that little arm of hers with a plaster cast almost to keep that IV needle in place and scanty air probably a sign on a more scary disease. Yet there she was like a little girl, talking to her mom about the little things that a child does.
Later on the same day a friend had a post on his facebook of a collection drive for treatment of cancer kids at Tata Memorial who cannot afford it.
That day I was very upset because it is moments like this that remind us of how precious good health is, and how much responsibility we the people who "have" have vs. those who needs help the "have nots".
While I have taken an oath in April 2010 that from that month onwards I will contribute an X % of my monthly nett salary to charity till the day I am earning a wage, it pains me to see so few people who give either money or time to any social cause.
These very same people will without thinking leave the 10-15% tip at a fancy restaurant or tip the valet but never give anything to charity. Why ? Or why is it so difficult for all of us to maybe give 1 hour a week on a weekend to physically or mentally help out somewhere with the skills we posses and use in our sphere of work ?
I mean i am sure many NGOs and social organizations can do with the skills of practicing lawyers, accountants, doctors, management experts, chefs, computer experts ,etc. It is NOT only about funds and money.
What also got me thinking is that I don't know why people seem to think that giving is only the duty of the rich. I did a simple example to disprove this or show you how giving is not about large sums.
India by some account has a middle class and above population of 200million. Assume now I asked these people who earn 200,000 and above a year to give just Rupee one per month towards charity. Surely 1Re a month is easily doable ? and I am sure all these people somewhere in rounding off errors would not think twice about a mere Rupee.
Yet those 12 rupees combined by 200million would give me a annual corpus of 2.4 Billion a year ! Think of the Miracles...yes Miracles ! I could do in India with this.
But alas it is not the case. Because everyone assumes the billions given away by Gates & Buffet and Premji is enough.
Do i sometimes think of the X% i give away and all the material things I could have bought if I had kept it instead ? Yes I do. I am human after all. But then at the end of the day I remind myself that, that Swiss watch that I crave or the new TV that I want, will just take 3 years of savings instead of 1 or 2. So what, I can wait.
Do i regret it ? Not at all. I cannot describe the pleasure I get everytime I write that cheque and hand it over to the orphange or cancer home or hospital. Yet to experience a better high :)
And that's why I say.....Giving must be a Joy. Give with your heart. Don't think of it as a compulsion or business or duty. It will give you more mental peace than anything in the world.
I've experienced it, when will you ???
Later on the same day a friend had a post on his facebook of a collection drive for treatment of cancer kids at Tata Memorial who cannot afford it.
That day I was very upset because it is moments like this that remind us of how precious good health is, and how much responsibility we the people who "have" have vs. those who needs help the "have nots".
While I have taken an oath in April 2010 that from that month onwards I will contribute an X % of my monthly nett salary to charity till the day I am earning a wage, it pains me to see so few people who give either money or time to any social cause.
These very same people will without thinking leave the 10-15% tip at a fancy restaurant or tip the valet but never give anything to charity. Why ? Or why is it so difficult for all of us to maybe give 1 hour a week on a weekend to physically or mentally help out somewhere with the skills we posses and use in our sphere of work ?
I mean i am sure many NGOs and social organizations can do with the skills of practicing lawyers, accountants, doctors, management experts, chefs, computer experts ,etc. It is NOT only about funds and money.
What also got me thinking is that I don't know why people seem to think that giving is only the duty of the rich. I did a simple example to disprove this or show you how giving is not about large sums.
India by some account has a middle class and above population of 200million. Assume now I asked these people who earn 200,000 and above a year to give just Rupee one per month towards charity. Surely 1Re a month is easily doable ? and I am sure all these people somewhere in rounding off errors would not think twice about a mere Rupee.
Yet those 12 rupees combined by 200million would give me a annual corpus of 2.4 Billion a year ! Think of the Miracles...yes Miracles ! I could do in India with this.
But alas it is not the case. Because everyone assumes the billions given away by Gates & Buffet and Premji is enough.
Do i sometimes think of the X% i give away and all the material things I could have bought if I had kept it instead ? Yes I do. I am human after all. But then at the end of the day I remind myself that, that Swiss watch that I crave or the new TV that I want, will just take 3 years of savings instead of 1 or 2. So what, I can wait.
Do i regret it ? Not at all. I cannot describe the pleasure I get everytime I write that cheque and hand it over to the orphange or cancer home or hospital. Yet to experience a better high :)
And that's why I say.....Giving must be a Joy. Give with your heart. Don't think of it as a compulsion or business or duty. It will give you more mental peace than anything in the world.
I've experienced it, when will you ???
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