Dasera Dasappa of Mandya & Dignified Coolies of India…

Scene 1:

Dasera Dasappa is a character in one of the famous books by Mr. H.L. Nagegowda. In his book “Nannuru” the author gives a detailed description of his village in a remote corner of Mandya in Karnataka. It revolves around the social situation of 60’s & 70’s

Throughout the novel, we find many such people who are economically poor, but rich in culture & heritage, with high regards to well-being of fellow people, lively,by finding happiness in even small things.

One Such character is Dasappa, whose ultimate dream is to visit Mysore during Dasera and watch the procession live with his wife & two sons. For this purpose, he saves his life earnings, collects resources from neighbours, plans day by day itinerary and when he starts his journey to Mysore, entire village assembles to wish them safe journey. Some of them even give their wish list to get from the city.

On reaching city, he and his family feel proud of achieving their aim of life but also felt lost in that richness and crowd. In one episode, they visit a restaurant and order masala dosa’s for entire family and when the bill arrives they are shocked, since it takes away lot of money from their kitty which they never imagined in their small world.  Similar funny events are recorded when they get stuck while crossing the traffic, or buying of clothes,or watching Dasera procession.  

Even in their insufficiency, the family stays together, enjoys the journey in different aspects and takes the reader to the timeline of what would have been the simple life of such people.

There was no money, social media, TV or mobile. But there was more values in life, affections in family, in person connect with nature, friends and relatives...

Scene 2:

Some weeks ago, happened to be in a lecturer session, where an intellectual was speaking on individual wellness. He used one word which I felt very interesting and haunting – the current generation is more inclined to become “Dignified Coolies of India”. Am I also one?  The answer was surely - Yes!!

No doubt, the IT ITES revolution has brought in sea changes to our country in terms of employment opportunities and revenue to all sectors. But at what cost?

Today if any country in Americas or Europe sneezes, we will shiver. If they cough we drink water, is it required to be so over dependent on foreign countries economy to run our own country?

Look at China, even they have huge population, but they are not entirely dependent on the particular industry. They are dominating in most of the manufacturing sectors, and mostly running their economy on own,by encouraging exports.

In the name of technical advance, most of us have forgotten the basic requirements of life. We are glued to system for hours together, followed by virtual friends. Lost interest in our festivals but eagerly interested in different types of days what foreigners celebrate. We have acquired that negative feeling which says our culture, religion; customs are inferior compared to foreign countries.

Remember those days when we played on sand, on roads with tops, on terrace with kites, nothing happened to us. But why is that sudden change in our attitude. With advance of technology, we have side-lined our traditional games and sports, not introducing such things to our kids but make them addicted to tabs at young age? Is it next gen coolies getting ready for serving foreign soil? 

We are becoming too complicated, due to the impact of corporate culture in personal life as well. We are losing sensitivity towards our own society in the race of making more dollars. In a way, our life is getting billed by someone else for every hour we are alive!!

I am not saying we should not work for others, but we should not give away our life for some other country like this. We have our capabilities to become entrepreneurs, business initiatives and try exploring it.

Even if we work, we should not give away our Indianness from our life. No matter how beautiful the neighbouring house is, end of the day, we sleep comfortable only in our house..Similarly no matter how good other country might be, for us, India is ultimate. We need to keep that in mind. If something is not correct here, let’s use try to change it instead of always criticizing it.

Let’s dedicate some time in our routine to society, family, and friends. At end no one will remember how many assignments I have closed for some client, but what matters is, how we spent time with family, and what was my contribution to fellow people and country is.

There are many opportunities we can find these days to distress ourselves from the hectic life, we need to show some interest and start identifying such chance which connects us back to our roots.  Try doing this and see the change...