On 02-Jun-09, at 7:32 AM, Venkat Mangudi wrote:
DIY is not in Indian culture. And cost is closely related to that.
Social standing and life in general is very tightly knitted into it. I
used to pay Rs 6000 for someone to drive me around. It bought me the
freedom to work on the road. Did my driver feel that he was getting a
raw deal? No. He was happy I was paying him Rs 1000 more than what he
was paid before and, get this, in his eyes, lived a comfortable
life. He
goes to a restaurant and celebrates. No, not the Shiok kind, but the
darshini kind. He feels superior to the guy who cleans the tables
there
who is probably paid a couple of thousand rupees and food/shelter.
Does
that person (table cleaner) complain? Nope, his needs are met and he
is
happy. I guess this takes us straight to Maslow's Need-Hierarchy
theory.
and I just thread-drifted big time. C'est la Vie.
Doesn't this conflict with what Cheeni just said?
If it's just the lack of individual initiative, that doesn't explain
how the same individuals perform elsewhere. Much of this is systemic
pressure to get somewhere, which has the effect of repressing
initiative.
