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Managing the Indian Programmer
Murali Chemuturi
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this article are purely my observations, which no doubt arelimited to my experiences. I do not claim that they are applicable universally to allIndians in all regions either of India or the world. I also acknowledge that the reader mayhave totally different observations and I respect them. If the reader feels aggrieved,please feel free to send me a stinking email. If my observations hurt the reader, I offermy apologies in advance. Finally, please use your own judgment to accept or reject thewisdom offered by this article and I accept no liability resulting from actions taken basedon this article.
Introduction
One can never understand the Indian society, unless one reads the Maha Bharatha.Maha Bharatha is a history written by Veda Vyasa in Sanskruth (Sanskrit, if you prefer)language. It is the story of a royal family who are called Kuru aka (also known as) Quru.The king Dhrutha Rashtra brings up the five children of his dead younger brother, alongwith his one hundred sons and a daughter. Due to a set of circumstances, he gives asmall kingdom to his brother’s sons (the eldest of them was Yudhishter) and makesthem independent. Yudhishter, with the help of his younger brothers expands hiskingdom and conquered from Scandinavia, Russia till Indonesia and collected tributefrom all those kingdoms. Rest of the story is about how his cousin cheated him out of hisempire and how thru a major war that saw 730 million warriors perish, Yudhishterreclaims his empire. This in a nutshell is the story of Maha Bharatha, which was narratedin about 100,000 couplets.The populations that were specifically mentioned as part of Quru Empire in MahaBharatha are Huns, Barbara (Romans), Yavana (Greeks) Mlecha (Egyptians / Arabs),Bahlika (Russians / Caucasians), Kambhoja (Cambodia), Gandhara (Afghanistan),Madra (Iran / Iraq), Sumatra (Indonesia), Malaya (Malaysia), Sindhu (Pakistan), andPanchala (Byzantium).Quru kings ruled that empire for 174 generations. The Quru dynasty ended in Indiaapproximately 2,500 years ago but flourished in Middle East as Quru Aishi (meaning justlike Quru).What has that got to do with managing Indian Programmer? Good question. MahaBharatha describes in great detail the principles based on which this Quru dynasty ruledfor 174 generation. One third of Maha Bharatha was dedicated to events after the warconcluded out of which two major chapters were dedicated to these principles.One of the major principles, which still today exert great influence on Indian society, isthe caste system. They implemented a barter system based on the castes. All serviceswere free in that society.Brahmins provided spiritual guidance and prayed for all and shouldered all sins of thesociety. They performed all religious ceremonies for all. All others are expected to givethe family Brahmin a portion of their produce. In return for that, any sin committed by that
 
family was absolved by the Brahmin thru appropriate ritual or penance. That is, if afamily member tells a lie, the Brahmin brands himself.Kshatriyas protected all people from external aggression and administered law andorder.Vaishyas were the traders and producers.Shudras served all the above three castes of people in their duties.Woman is pious as long as she served her husband.There was well-understood and respected hierarchy in the society and each one’s dutiesare set out clearly. These were passed from father to son.There was no religion as understood in the present day with a prophet and a book as setout by Moses. Brahmins took care of the prayer part. Everybody followed his or herregimen. Many believe that Plato’s Utopia describes the Hindu Society of yore.Buddha and Moses started two religions to be followed by others like Maha Vira(Jainism) Adi Shankara (Advaitha), Ramanuja (Dwaitha), Madhva (Visishtadwaitha), andSikhism within the present Indian borders. Islam though started in Arabia landedforcefully in India and the European traders brought in Christianity and English ruleestablished it firmly.Thus India is a confluence of religions and the caste system is still relevant.Added to religious multiplicity is the linguistic multiplicity. Perhaps India is the onlycountry that speaks the maximum number of languages. Sixteen languages arerecognized as official. The link language is still English.Present Indian constitution confounded the confusion by a system of reservation ineducational institutions and Government jobs to, so-called, backwards castes. Thereservations were extended to those sections of society that were not felt backwards atthe time of independence in 1947 and also Muslims in some places.Now, on paper, all people are equal before law with some exceptions.This has given rise to certain prejudices among people. All these prejudices would notbe apparent to an external observer. These are rather covert and nobody would admit tothese prejudices in public and most would not admit to them even in private. They arebeneath the surface.
Religious Prejudices
Hindus and Muslims distrust and hate each other. Muslims feel that they are superiorand must be so treated. Hindus feel that Muslims are barbarians bathing only once aweek while Hindus take two (or at least once) baths a day. Another grouse of Hindusagainst Muslims is that they (Muslims) carved out a separate country from Indiaexclusively for Indian Muslims and are still staying in India. They ask “Why are you stillhere after carving out your own country from our land”?
 
 Hindus and Christians distrust each other. Christians feel that Hinduism followsdiscrimination based on birth. Hindus feel that Christians are converting Hindus intoChristianity using money power.Jains want to be declared a religious minority while all others (Muslims and Christians)consider them as Hindus.Sikhs are clubbed with Hindus but they managed to be declared as a religious minority.Jains and Sikhs feel that they are superior to all others and expect all other religiousgroups to extend them the due respect.So one thing is clear – each religious group thinks that they are superior and that othersmust extend them the due respect. That is every one suffers from a superiority complex.When religious riots break out, it is always between Muslims and others – the “others”include Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Christians and branded together as Hindus.
Caste Prejudices
One thing peculiar only to India – the Christians and Muslims also follow Hindu castesystem! They even maintain separate churches for different castes too. Marriages areperformed within the same castes.Well these are never admitted to an outsider. These are handled in hush-hush manner,beneath the surface.Brahmins are wise and quickest to learn. They are also very upfront and straightforward.They stand on commitments. These people are also highly temperamental and are notlikely to brook insults. Brahmins are excellent in concept but low on stamina andsustained effort. They are best suited to short-bursts of high quality work in cutting edgeareas. They are weak on run-of-the-mill routine work. They are often selfless when itcomes to tough times. Their loyalty to their employers is of the highest order. They arealso God fearing. They are self-learners and self-critics. They will be found mostly inemployment in all positions. They are brutally and bluntly honest. They are harsh oftongue. These people are generally timid. Most Brahmins are poor to upper middleclass.Kshatriya caste people were traditionally rulers and show leadership qualities but theyexpect leadership to be bestowed on them. While they do not exhibit imitative and drive,they stand on their commitments. They are intelligent and quick to learn. They rarelycommit themselves. They however are staunchly loyal to their employers. They wouldlike to be very independent and generally do not brook breathing-down-the-necksupervision. They expect training by a higher-level person. They run organizations.These people are honest and are very soft of tongue. These people are very brave. MostKshatriyas are upper middle class to rich.Vaishyas are smart and quick to learn. They are very good with numbers. They canexcel in routine work. They are rarely interested in new concepts. They are also money-minded. Their loyalty is towards money. It is almost impossible to get firm commitment
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