Simon says-I am perfect, the world isn't

'He is really intelligent. If he tried, he would have got it' or 'Well, I know how to do it, I know what to do, I would have done it if I wanted to, but I don't want to because it is too silly'- I have heard these comments so often that the next person who says it better have lightning quick reflexes to save their health, from me. I have heard it so often that when people say this, I don't hear these words any more, instead what I get is 'I am an under achiever, I was all potential and talent, but I wasted it and never really got anywhere with the opportunities I got and I am upset that others used the opportunity and are doing better than me'.

I too have used that lame excuse to convince myself I was doing fine, a long time ago in my school days when I refused to study Biology. But then I realised I was merely being pathetic and envious and dropped the defensive approach. Let them be and this has helped because I do not feel envy or the urge to defend my choices and make the comment that must not be made, what this means is that I know what I am doing and why I am doing it.

I hear a lot of people say 'If I get a chance, I will leave India and go to Singapore'. Let me see, middle class India which numbers more than a 150million atleast wants to go to law abiding Singapore that has currently 3.8 million citizens and 1.2 million expats. Perhaps everything that is wrong with India is in its geography and not in the consumerism, perpetual last minute rush, apathy, callousness, general contempt for rules that seems all pervading. To have the right to complain, we must have done something on our own to rise above the petty contempt with which we view ourselves and if we are to be respected, we must first change ourselves and then respect ourselves for that.

(Singapore is whole of 710sq.km and India is 3.2million sq.km and even if we give power to the states, I for one cannot figure what to do about districts like Kurnool and Anantapur with population of almost 4million and spread over an aread of 19000sq.km and )

We complain about potholes on the road and lack of pedestrian space, but how many of us actually walk on the right side of the road  or wait for the signal to cross the road or resist the urge to spit casually in the open? How many of us know to drive properly and take a right turn without violating atleast a dozen rules? A 10min drive will let us see hundreds of people chatting away on the mobile phones, on bikes, cars and pedestrians too texting and on a call or on their mp3 players oblivious to the traffic around them.

Whenever I say I am planning to join the civil service, the reply that everyone comes up with is 'Don't you know what happened to Raju Narayanaswamy?' Yes, but I also know about these

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?277990

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3269591.ece
http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20120504290808800.htm

and if good civil servants are something difficult to digest, then give me examples of their greed and corruption.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-28/india/29594799_1_steel-mill-lockers-raipur
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/enforcement-directorate-ias-couple-madhya-pradesh/1/158422.html

We stick to stereotypes, view what is ours and what we are and what made us with contempt and blame it on others and our environment whereas we are squeaky clean. How do we make things better? In this situation, the answer is very simple but we will never get round to doing it since it involves taking action and we are all only enthusiastic about lectures and inspirational words, but never in putting into action Mahatma Gandhi's words 'Be the change you want to see in the world'.