why at all social service..............

It was past 12 last night and there I was, trying desperately to go forty winks. I tried all the tricks in the book (I now know for sure that counting sheep doesn’t work). Having no other option, I started evaluating the day gone by. I enumerated all the activities I had done during the day- from exercising in the morning to the dinner that I had- and found some thing startling: all the activities I had done were for myself, there was nothing that I had done for others. Now some of you may wonder: is there any need to specifically perform activity oriented towards others? At that point in time I felt the same but having nothing else to do, I started looking around for logical (and not sentimental) reasons to help others (specifically the underprivileged). Surprisingly, I found them to be many. Let me list out some of them.
First, let me put you in a hypothetical situation; the DNB PSAPL has been shifted to Somalia. Your pay package has been enhanced (from the already fat pay, but I won’t contest that) and you are now getting more fringe benefits than ever before. But what will you do with the money? There are no eat outs (you see, there has been a drought in Somalia for the entire length of living memory) no spots to chill out, no infrastructure (all this in spite of the fact that you have done your bit by paying taxes sincerely etc.) and the worst of all, you have to dread for your life as long as you have your money. Now we come to realize the comfort that the Indian society has given to us just by being there: it has given us all these and more. So it is up to us to ensure this wonderful society of ours doesn’t degenerate into some monstrous being due to our callousness.
Let me next introduce the economic concept of “trickle down effect”. This concept, in layman’s terms, says that if you pour a bucketful of water on the top of a tree, atleast a drop will finally reach the roots. Based on this concept, the industrial sector (particularly software) has been getting a lot of concessions- the chain of thought is simple………
Concession to industry à more employees with higher salaryà more contribution to developmentà equitable and socially just India.
As you can see, the most important clause here is the contribution to development. If this doesn’t happen, the government would have to change this (very convenient) trickle down policy and our salaries will be cut L. So you see, service is not for other’s welfare but for our own.
Next, I come to the “enlightened self interest argument”. For how long do you think a starved man will keep quiet when everyone around him is partying? Maybe for ever, if he is all alone. But if there are a majority of such men, then God save the people who are partying. Islands of happiness in a sea of misery get submerged in the tsunamis of revolutions. On the other hand, if he is given a share of the pie, even a minor bit, everyone is happy. It again boils down to one thing- your income must pamper and not endanger you. If this means forgoing a part of it, then so be it.
Lastly, I come to the argument that appeals me the most. It may be slightly sentimental, but then it’s very real. Imagine that, God forbid, I pass away today. (Actually it is a possibility- I am not feeling well, the traffic on OMR is bad….) What will I be remembered for and by whom? By DNB- hopefully I would be remembered as a good employee (a two minute silence would be fine, cant demand more, you know). But there are a thousand other good employees. By my parents and sisters as we have 25 years of common memories, by a few friends and that’s it. All of these are totally commonplace, every person on this planet will be remembered for these. Don’t you think that we must be remembered uniquely by people – people who have hardly know us but have been affected by our acts, whose lives have changed for better because we lived? I think that would be the greatest compliment to our brief sojourn on this wonderful planet called earth.
And to those of you who have successfully read till this point, thanks a lot for the patient hearing, rather patient reading. But then let us not postpone action saying that this could be done as a part of CSR and so forth. Small individual acts are those that affect individuals most. Maybe you can take weekly one hour tuition for your maid’s kid; maybe you can ensure the kid’s further education, (maybe come and wring the neck of the sender of this mail … please don’t do itL)or whatever. Lets now make our actions count……………for building a better tomorrow …………… for a brighter India.