Re: Today I am ashamed of being Indian.
[quote=“Aussindian, post:14, topic:256050”]
Little Princess: Whenever I visit India, I tip the Rikshawala or domestic help as I feel guilty / bad about their exploitation - however I am angrily told off by my relatives that I am spoiling them & increasing their expectations from them (Indians in India).
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So true. I really agree with your relatives. I live in Bangalore. Here the IT biggies who return from abroad have truly made our lives miserable. They go out of the way to pay exorbitant amounts for whatever they take a fancy to. It is very difficult to hire an auto here. The common refrain is that “The IT guy pays double the regular fare.. why should I bother” By tipping the rikshawala and the domestic help you are not doing any good. You are just adding to the economic imbalance. The middle class is getting hurt by your actions. You could sponsor students or donate money to orphanages or something like that. People look for instant gratification. You feel happy by tipping him some extra money and the person gets happy be seeing the money. he would rather instantly blow it up on some cheap liquor rather than investing the extra amount for a rainy day. You could enable your domestic help to succeed by asking her to join some vocational training program if you are so concerned.
It is a long post, I agree and I am just pissed about people who just dont understand the ground realities and try making life difficult for everybody else.
How do you define poor.. What are you trying to achieve by giving that person USD 200. Do you think he is wise enough to invest the money in something good. It is all a matter of choice. Yes something needs to be done but not doling out money. Sponsor students, donate money to good orphanages and old age homes. There are many such institutions which are doing yeoman service for the poor. It is just that we dont make the effort. We just blame the system and do things that hurt the economic balance…