The Educated Derelict

Calvin Coolidge, the great American President, once said that, a tragedy of life, amongst others, was to be an 'educated derelict'. The phrase, interested me but I could not nail it down. Derelicts, were quite common at sea. In the old days, ships, which were struck by pirates, or where the crew had run out of water and food, or died of sickness, were abandoned on the high seas, floating around unmanned and dangerous.A threat to other shipping in general. These days, as a shipowner you are liable to be prosecuted, if you leave a derelict, on the seas.

Yesterday I was sitting through a selection interview and the process rambled along, as the candidate looked smart, was articulate and reasonably intelligent ( with a degree in management ), till I asked this girl what her opinion about Bengaluru was. My interested, perked as she said that she did not like the city, too much! On further probing she said, she found, 'local people' unfriendly.........I probed further and to my amazement she said, that she found auto drivers, unfriendly, because, they did not speak her language and that she equated, auto drivers, with the general local population of Bengaluru!

I was taken a back, to say the least. I suggested, that there were two possible solutions:

#1. Use the local buses.( like many in Bengaluru )
#2. Considering that she had stayed in Bengaluru, for about four years, she could learn to speak, Kannada and circumvent, the problem.

The lady, shrugged, her rather shapely shoulders and said, she could not be bothered!
Contrast, this with Jason, an American, working here. I bumped into him at a seminar & introduced myself with a handshake. Jason, in response executed a perfect 'Namaste' and said 'Namaskara. He seemed to be at home and was keen to learn the local culture.he was curious & excited.

Bengaluru, is a wonderful city and is not that way, because, of its weather or pubs.While I have nothing, against, many of my friends clamoring for pubs to remain open all night or stand in judgement against them staggering home, drunk, in the wee hours of the morning, I cannot accept, the city's culture being dependant on pubs.The city derives it culture, from its people, including the auto drivers, that I talked about earlier.

When a person, of the type being interviewed, gets into an auto, she must realize that there is a veritable clash of civilizations, within the confines of the auto. One upper class, rich & well taken care of India against a poorer, struggling, deprived India.To live in a glass house is one thing, to live in a glass house and throw stones at others is rank stupidity.

The sense of entitlement, selfishness and opaqueness coupled with a ruthless ability to use other people is alarming to say the least.Are these traits of an aspirational society or poor upbringing? I have no ready answer. Since the girl hails from one of India's very poorly governed states, I suggested, why she could not think of going home and work towards its improvement. She said, that was not worth considering since, it was too difficult!The path less trodden, is not for my pampered young friend.

Calvin Coolidge's phrase, about 'educated derelicts' has sunk home!