Are we becoming a lazy nation ? (more from Delhi...)

This one is going to generate some debate but anyway here it goes…

I’m seeing a definite march towards it. Every one of my visits I see more and more evidence on the march towards it. We basically seem to need someone else to come and do even our basic chores. I know growing up we have always had domestic help but what I have noticed in the last couple days during my stay this time goes well beyond the ubiquitous “kaam wali bhai” in everybody’s house that we all grew up with. To drive my point I will use a day in the life of an individual let us call him “Sharma’ji” as I do not have any Sharma friend on facebook:

Sharma’ji wakes up in the morning yelling “Ramu meri chai kidar hai” (Seems like there is a Ramu in every household these days). Mrs. Sharma is in the meanwhile trying to roll around bed cursing Sharma’ji to have woken her up (”kyon subeh subeh gala phad rahe ho ji”). She is planning her own day in her mind (the mall trip in the morning, gup shup and chai, pakoda’s in the afternoon and you get the picture…). It has been about 15 mins. since the chai yell went out and finally after a couple of more shouts Sharma’ji gets his chai but without the news paper. “Abhe akbaar kahan hai” he yells back at Ramu. Ramu would walk to the doorstep looking for the paper that was delivered to the door step by the Akbaar wala at 5:30AM. Ramu is in the meantime trying to get breakfast ready. The kids are up and the sharma’ji has yet another domestic help (Nanny) to get them ready for school and drop them at the bust stop.

The dood wala (milk man) and subzi wala (vegetable vendor) are at the door step hawking their daily deliveries. The isthri wala is at the door step as well to pickup clothes that need to get ironed before the Sharma’s have to head out. Heck this time I noticed yet another addition the bread and ande wala (Bread and eggs delivery vendor).

The kaam wali bhai arrives in the meantime to clean the house, utensils and silverware and do laundry. The Sharma’s have a busy morning basically dealing with all the domestic help as oppose to doing a couple of things themselves. Now that shama’ji is ready to go to work he yells from his balcony for the driver to get the car out. The driver who has been washing and detailing the car since morning quickly throws the bucket of water out and hurriedly finishes up the last bit of cleaning to get the car ready for sharma’ji. Mrs. Sharma has her own car and driver to ferry her around to the various malls that have sprouted around Delhi. When they get back in the evening whole drill starts all over again.

I do understand that not all households employ the same numbers of domestic help but on an average everybody has around half a dozen folks helping them on a daily basis. Forgive me if I have exaggerated a bit but you get the point. Heck I saw a couple walking around in the DLF Promenade mall with their nanny in the tow pushing their infant’s stroller and a couple of guys from the mall bringing the wares they had bought to the car while the driver was waiting for them at the curb with their car. Every time I visit Delhi I see a new addition at one of the neighbor’s house and the addition is to the number of domestic help he has.

I understand that there is a billion people and this generates employment etc… but what a national waste of human resources…

BTW I wrote this while waiting for my driver to pick me up from the hotel to go to work …