The Morning After

Lucky for a lot of people, we didn’t get picked up until 10:30 for class today. Our lecture was by Professor J. M. Subramanya. It consisted of teachings about business ethics from Indian scripture and Gurus. I thought that this lecture in particular was incredibly interesting. He explained to us that in order to be “successful” you need to acquire wealth, and have no anger, jealousy, miserliness or bad thoughts. The idea of generating wealth can only be meaningful when combined with good conduct. There is somewhat of a bad stigma associated with living your life for money in the states, but here, they realize that it’s the only way to survive. Another point that I really enjoyed was when he stated, “you cannot be ethical in your work life without being ethical in your other life.” I think this is so true, and many people think that there is a difference between the two.

Later that evening we were invited back to SDM for a concert. The Mysore Police Band preformed for us in the open air amphitheater. It was such a new cultural experience for all of us. Some liked it more then others, but I personally thought they were great. Maybe there were a little unprofessional, but unique just the same. At one point during the performance, a man was giving a flute solo when his cell phone started to ring. He proceeded to stop playing, take out his phone, look at for a few seconds, silence it and replace it back in his pocket. This surprised me. Back home first of all, this would never happen, but even if it did, the audience would be in an uproar. All in all, it was an absolutely beautiful night. We have so far had the most beautiful weather. It’s been about 80 degrees and sunny everyday.

We then went back to the Ginger Hotel for dinner. The hotel has surprisingly very good Indian food. I am fortunate that I enjoyed Indian cuisine before I came on this trip. A few of my classmates are having a hard time with the spice. Three meals if Indian food a day it getting a little hard to handle. We may need to break down and find some familiar food soon. For the rest of the evening, we read our textbook and sat around and chatted. There are some of the greatest people on this trip. I couldn’t have picked more interesting individuals to travel with if I had tried.

As I continue to read on in the book “Being Indian” I find it incredibly interesting to learn about what drives the Indian people and economy to accelerate at such a rapid rate. The book says, “the competition between people has only accentuated the desire to succeed.” This seems correct in many cases, such as higher education and job placement in large corporations. But on the other hand, because of the many years of having a caste system (even though it had been abolished it is still very prominent), many people aren’t allowed to move above their rank. India has such a large population, and only a few positions available in comparison. How are these people going to be able to get in the game? It seems to be leaving them behind. Can this be changed? Is there anything being done to change it?