{"id":3223,"date":"2016-06-10T03:13:36","date_gmt":"2016-06-09T21:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3223"},"modified":"2016-06-10T03:13:36","modified_gmt":"2016-06-09T21:43:36","slug":"how-indians-shirk-responsibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=3223","title":{"rendered":"\u201cApne Ko Kya?\u201d: How Indians Shirk Responsibility"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A<\/span><\/p><\/div>

s a <\/span>country<\/span><\/a>, we are always in a hurry: We have no time for each other or for adhering to rules. We drive every day like getaway drivers straight out of <\/span>Baby Driver <\/span><\/i>and honk as if it\u2019s our fundamental right. Nothing can slow our march against the clock, not even our friends, families, anniversaries, or vacations.<\/span>\n\nIt\u2019s ironic then, that for a people who behave as if every second of our time is as priceless as the Kohinoor diamond, it doesn\u2019t take much to slow us down. Our insanely fast-paced life comes to a grinding halt the minute we witness a public altercation or an accident. Suddenly, time is nothing but loose change. We\u2019ve all seen how comfortably <\/span>traffic<\/span><\/a> slows down when there\u2019s an accident on the side of a highway or bang in the middle of the road. The same autowallah, who was driving like he had the engine of a Ferrari, pulls over along with the guy who was running late for a meeting and yelling at his <\/span>Uber<\/span><\/a> driver to break signals. All of us want in on the story; we look around, try to catch someone\u2019s eye, and utter \u201cKya hua?\u201d in our attempt to be more clued in. Then, if time permits \u2013 which it always does \u2013 we readily offer needless advice, concern, or commentary. And then we\u2019re off within the next minute, staying true to the famous Indian \u201cChhod na, apne ko kya?\u201d mentality.<\/span>\n\nIt\u2019s mind-boggling how our interest peaks one minute and in the next, disappears, making way for a kind of nonchalance that\u2019s truly innate. It\u2019s not just accidents or incidents alone \u2014 poking our nose in situations that don\u2019t concern us is a national pastime. Even the oldies in our building societies, who sit downstairs in the evenings keep an eye out for anyone entering, exiting, or hanging out with someone they shouldn\u2019t. But what makes this shared curiosity complete is our collective volte-face: The minute we acquire a piece of information, it becomes completely meaningless, prompting another fresh round of \u201c…par apne ko kya?\u201d<\/span>\n\nTake for instance, the fact that our ears are always alert in <\/span>public<\/span><\/a> spaces, desperately hoping to catch snippets of personal details of people whom we hardly know. Once we overhear a conversation, we make eyes at the people accompanying us, draw snap judgments about the people, snigger or roll our eyes in accordance with what we\u2019ve heard, and then shrug it all off with an \u201capne ko kya?\u201d \u00a0<\/span>\n\n

In places like Mumbai, where buildings are erected cheek by jowl, people thrive off this very Indian need of peeking into someone else\u2019s living room, but from a distance. <\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nI\u2019m certain that this delicate dance of voyeurism and indifference has originated in India. Because if there\u2019s another thing that <\/span>Indians<\/span><\/a> love with all their heart, it\u2019s shirking responsibility. And, our \u201capne ko kya?\u201d mentality is nothing but proof of how far-removed we prefer to be, despite making everything our business. It\u2019s the very reason why <\/span>Bigg Boss<\/span><\/i><\/a> has such unprecedented popularity in our country. It allows us the luxury of looking into the lives of others, which we can shrug off a little later only because it doesn\u2019t affect our lives. For us, it\u2019s not a show but merely an extension of life. <\/span>\n\nIn places like Mumbai, where buildings are erected cheek by jowl, people thrive off this very Indian need of peeking into someone else\u2019s living room, but from a distance. On some days, I\u2019d draw the curtains completely annoyed, but on other days, I\u2019d be indifferent, seeing no harm in his uninvited presence. He may not have interfered, but I was well aware that the dinner table conversation at his house would revolve around what they saw at the dinner table at mine. And be discarded just as easily with the familiar catchphrase.<\/span>\n\nIt\u2019s ultimately a fine balance between interest and disinterest. It swings from the urgency of \u201cTell me more\u201d to the passive \u201cHow does it matter?\u201d If I didn\u2019t know better, I\u2019d mistake it for being almost zen-like. But ultimately, we are all proverbial jackals and the stories we couldn\u2019t latch on to are our own sour grapes. Adding a sneaky \u201cApne ko kya?\u201d guarantees that it never lets anything dampen our need to be voyeuristic. By shrugging off one, we ready ourselves for our next hunt.<\/span>\n\nYou see, it\u2019s not a bad thing, if we can actually leave it at that. But the trouble is that in most cases, we don\u2019t really shrug it off. Sometimes, it lingers in our minds and we continue chasing the story. To such times I say, \u201cChhodh na, apne ko kya?\u201d<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The famous Indian \u201cApne ko kya?\u201d mentality is a delicate dance of voyeurism and indifference. We want to poke our noses everywhere, without taking on any responsibility. It\u2019s why we love Bigg Boss, which allows us the luxury of looking into the lives of others, and shrug it off just as easily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":3224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[19,5993,3982,80,6277,6278],"class_list":["post-3223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pov","tag-india","tag-indian-people","tag-indians","tag-mumbai","tag-responsibility","tag-shirking-responsibility"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cApne Ko Kya?\u201d: How Indians Shirk Responsibility<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The famous Indian \u201cApne ko kya?\u201d mentality is a delicate dance of voyeurism and indifference. We want to poke our noses everywhere, without taking on any responsibility. 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