Maslow Debunked Some of my uncle’s most treasured possessions are yellowed photographs of him posing with Arab friends. This evidence of the strong ties that existed between early Indians in Dubai and Arabs, speaks of a larger truth. That there was a sincere desire to integrate the two communities in those days when Caltex used donkeys to move oil-barrels. The souks of Dubai were a mingle of Farsi, Hindi and Arabic. Many Arabs traveled to India, which was then considered a place of higher education. This early accessibility and integration subsequently dissipated.
Today the Gulf is a veritable Tower of Babel, home to hundreds of nationalities, predominant among them are Middle Eastern Arabs, Indians, Philippines and British. These communities lead together but separate lives. Their worlds coincide at the workplace but the bonhomie does not translate into any personal and meaningful relationships. The type that would extend outside the office and spill-over into their homes. However, to the casual observer this highly organised worker colony seems to runs with astonishing smoothness. The possibility of hearing words like racial tension, riots, strikes, protests or even discord is non-existent. How then does a totally non-homogenized society co-exist? The trick lies in debunking Maslow. The very notion that the pinnacle of man’s aspirations and fulfillment lies in self-actualization is turned on its head. Here is a society that has its lower order needs met in terms of material well-being, physical safety, prestige and status. But that is where they are left to languish. A country intolerant of the slightest dissent cannot produce citizens that are “self-actualized”. This is a society of ideologically homogenized clones and of the most mediocre intellectual output. Underneath the glamour and glitz of golf-courses and shiny malls, you will find an unnervingly dysfunctional psyche, nursing an affront to its human dignity and suppressing the most basic needs of honest dialogue and dissent. Perhaps such matters do not weigh heavily on the minds of countless Indians who make their way to the Gulf. For what use is it living in a country that allows you to voice an opinion but is paradoxically home to millions of voiceless and disenfranchised people. A country that affords you the opportunity to utilise your full potential but doesn’t provide you with the infrastructure to do so. This then is the quandary faced by Indians who make the Gulf their long-term abode. Whether to return to India, a country where you have the liberty to give expression to every core of your being or to make do with the comfort of Maslow’s lower-order needs and abandon your potential at the sacrificial altar of human rights and civil liberties. --------------------------------------- input/info appreciated selma
