Its been a while since i have been back in Delhi , but the city still manages to surprise me. I guess that's why we leave in this phenomena called India. Where logic is not very logical. Yesterday , I met up with my amazing elder brother , and was just discussing the City , work culture and other things which Brothers talk about when they see each other after a year . I realized a rather amazing part of our daily lives. Although I must admit some one had shared this with me about 3 years back , his exact words were " India is a very comfortable place , you can always get things done ".
Its true , we can get things " done ", its almost a measure of prosperity. All the so called
' big ' people of the city DO NOT do things themselves. I mean simple things like cleaning
ones house , cooking your food , washing your clothes , are activities which are not meant
for Delhieits. Even students have househelps .
So much so that most of the social conversations revolve around maids and servants. The larger the household the larger the help crew. My house has a full time cook/cleaner , a Gardner, a dude who brings milk in the morning , the paper delivery guy , a person who picks up and drops our ironed clothes , a guy who takes the garbage out. So we are a family of 3 being helped by a crew of 6 to keep our lives comfortable. And in case one of them does not turn up , its as if all hell has broken loose . My mom would ensure there is a replacement , and by one in a million chance if that replacement is not found , the sight wont be pretty , it would be as though by one of those harry potter curses our whole life is paralyzed. Our existence is in question.
This mentality is not just kept at home but carried to work . Its almost a required evil. If you ' do ' work you automatically turn insignificant , no one will give you importance , no one will take you seriously. For example if you have to get a couple of flyer's printed. The logical step would be , to go to the printer and get them printed. ' BUT ' , in case you make that mistake in Delhi , you would spend a lot of time , as the guy at the shop would ignore you , as he would be busy watching cricket / drinking tea / reading the news paper / talking to his far off relative / or just simply scratching his crouch . Now the Delhi style of doing things is , you ask your receptionist to call the printer , then you explain your intern what he or she has to explain to the printer , then you give the flyer to be printed to your subordinate .
So when the printer comes he meets the receptionist who calls the intern who calls your subordinate.
( because the intern knows since you are so important , you wont directly interacts with him/her ) This chain of command has 2 functions , it shows you ( the person the printer has never seen ) are very important , surely some one of the league of Don Corleone . Secondly when the deadline is about to be missed ( and work is always completed in the last second , as Delhieits don't like wasting any time ). At this mission impossible / last action hero moment , when you will make that call and say " Why is the work not done , how come it has come " I " have to call you !!! " . It will have turbo booster effects and the printing WILL get done !!!!
Its true , we can get things " done ", its almost a measure of prosperity. All the so called
' big ' people of the city DO NOT do things themselves. I mean simple things like cleaning
ones house , cooking your food , washing your clothes , are activities which are not meant
for Delhieits. Even students have househelps .
So much so that most of the social conversations revolve around maids and servants. The larger the household the larger the help crew. My house has a full time cook/cleaner , a Gardner, a dude who brings milk in the morning , the paper delivery guy , a person who picks up and drops our ironed clothes , a guy who takes the garbage out. So we are a family of 3 being helped by a crew of 6 to keep our lives comfortable. And in case one of them does not turn up , its as if all hell has broken loose . My mom would ensure there is a replacement , and by one in a million chance if that replacement is not found , the sight wont be pretty , it would be as though by one of those harry potter curses our whole life is paralyzed. Our existence is in question.
This mentality is not just kept at home but carried to work . Its almost a required evil. If you ' do ' work you automatically turn insignificant , no one will give you importance , no one will take you seriously. For example if you have to get a couple of flyer's printed. The logical step would be , to go to the printer and get them printed. ' BUT ' , in case you make that mistake in Delhi , you would spend a lot of time , as the guy at the shop would ignore you , as he would be busy watching cricket / drinking tea / reading the news paper / talking to his far off relative / or just simply scratching his crouch . Now the Delhi style of doing things is , you ask your receptionist to call the printer , then you explain your intern what he or she has to explain to the printer , then you give the flyer to be printed to your subordinate .
So when the printer comes he meets the receptionist who calls the intern who calls your subordinate.
( because the intern knows since you are so important , you wont directly interacts with him/her ) This chain of command has 2 functions , it shows you ( the person the printer has never seen ) are very important , surely some one of the league of Don Corleone . Secondly when the deadline is about to be missed ( and work is always completed in the last second , as Delhieits don't like wasting any time ). At this mission impossible / last action hero moment , when you will make that call and say " Why is the work not done , how come it has come " I " have to call you !!! " . It will have turbo booster effects and the printing WILL get done !!!!
the bit about family of 3 being supported by 6 people...totally awesome!!!!(2 thumbs up)
ReplyDeletebhai saahab bahut sahi nass pakdi hai aapney dilli ki!!!!!!
I was thinking to write exactly, and you wrote it. Don't think it need to repeat. This time i thought because of our work delay why we are expecting to people work on Sunday. If we know our needs already then why we start working on that thing at last seconds.
ReplyDelete