Re: Safety: Are we ignorant or do we care? Yes your assessment is correct. Thank you for raising this topic of utmost importance. As a culture safety is not yet on our agenda. In terms of safety we are at the same learning curve that the Anglo-Saxon societies were in say 1925 or at best 1935. Over time they evolved to their current consciousness and practice of safety and valuing human lives. Should we improve - of course we should. Will we improve - yes we will but it will be a process of osmosis over two more generations.
All, Let me illustrate this osmosis by two examples albeit in a different sphere. Getting to meetings on time - in the 1980s before the mass of corporate India got exposed to the Western way of doing business it was a rare meeting that started on time or where the visitor showed up at your office within 10 minutes of the appointed start. And minus 10 minutes was considered jolly professional - Bombay time; Delhi time was 25 minutes. Today things are better - not German but hugely better. Best of all even the bureaucrats in the ministries (at least in New Delhi) meet you at the appointed time. In the 1980s this was unthinkable. Change is so gradual you don't see it. A team of mine recently visited, on business, 3 neighbouring SAARC countries. In Nepal and Pakistan a private sector to private sector business meeting usually starts 30 to 40 minutes late and this experience was repeated every time without exception despite the fact that the visitors had travelled in from overseas. No offence meant but as a society they are at an earlier stage of the curve in this respect at least. Another example of osmosis.
When I was a child, at the dawn of the paleolithic age, it was common place for a relative (often with family) to simply drop in with no prior intimation and say we've come here for a short holiday and guess what we are staying with you. The decency and manners on this aspect simply didn't exist. That's what they saw their parents doing in 1935 and were simply copying without thinking. And I am referring to relatives who were not so close and were senior professionals, IAS officers, doctors etc. Period. In the middle and upper classes this almost doesn't happen anymore. So change will come but in drops. In 2 generations it will be different. In between several unfortunates will lose life or limb. Our unconcern for safety is some where linked to fatalism, karma, and lack of desire, in many, to pursue excellence.
Last edited by V.Narayan : 21st February 2018 at 20:00.
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