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There was, and rightfully so, much outrage over Air India’s inaction and flight attendant indifference. Why would an Indian make such a poor fellow passenger? What happened on an Air India flight is an extreme case, but the rude indifference among travelers is the hallmark of India’s street holes and It’s just as common. And like a hole, such rudeness ruined many happy days.
Everyone has had a bad experience while traveling, whether it’s the disrespectful passenger using headphones while listening to music, or standing in line at check-in because they refused to pay for excess baggage. There will be However, while we do occasionally run into brats abroad, Indians seem to have a particular affinity for their lack of compassion.
Consider the in-cabin scene of an airliner landing. Thousands of passengers are lining up to get off the plane with their luggage even before the seat belt sign is turned off. Pathetic flight attendant. While the new members may require people to stay seated (they didn’t listen), the complete resignation of the old flight attendants is a story in itself.
Or think of the growing fear of watching your family open a can of spicy pickles on the plane. The smell of mustard oil and chilli wafts through the limited space of the plane, leaving passengers little rest.
The perception that Indians are poor travelers is commonly accepted both at home and abroad. Stories of Indian tourists stealing hotel accessories are fairly common, as are tales of Indians heavily drinking free alcohol. So when the India case came to light, though he was despicable, I was not surprised.
Why are Indians like this? Here is one theory.
Any degree of citizenship is not narrowly defined, but is based on a shared sense of community that includes everyone. This sense of community creates sympathy for the other party, and along with sympathy, consideration is born. For a civic sense to exist, all individuals must be equally responsible for the common good. This is not just in an abstract sense, but in a very concrete sense (for example, don’t litter in the streets).
Unfortunately, India is a society stratified along multiple lines, but mostly along caste lines. The caste system pits these groups against each other by not only dividing society into subgroups, but placing it in a hierarchy. As BR Ambedkar wrote disappearance of caste“The caste has killed the public spirit. The caste has destroyed the public sense of charity… Virtue has become caste-dominated, morality caste-bound.”
In a society where caste-tribal allegiance comes first and foremost, why should individuals be considerate of abstract others in public? A foundation for fostering empathy and thereby citizenship. not at all. Think about when a poor waiter was yelled at for serving the wrong dish. Sure, they made mistakes, but does that qualify anyone to be cruel and disrespectful? Unfortunately, in India, we treat those who serve us as servants and treat servants as treated as a human being. Caste plays a big role here.
Ambedkar argued that: Fraternity is the foundation of a healthy democracyIndia lacks this. Our identities are powerful and often so conflicted that we can’t see beyond them.In addition, for many Indians life is a daily struggle to survive. In such circumstances, the potential to develop true empathy for those around one is greatly hampered.
The Air India incident is just one example of Indians being ill-behaved travelers. It shows a side of our country that cannot hide the amount of glitz and glamour. After all, it didn’t happen in a shady corner of Mumbai. This was an international business class seat.
I’m sure there are other factors here. In particular, what role do patriarchy and gender relations play in this issue? But what cannot be ignored is how far we are from becoming a society that can be proud of itself, the true fraternity that our Constitution envisions for India.
arjun.sengupta@expressindia.com
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