Our culture states "ATITHI DEVO BHAVA". And we Indians take it quite seriously, especially if the atithi is a foreigner. Whether in his country he is a criminal, carpenter or a cowboy. If he is a foreigner, everybody around him tries to charm him and be friendly with him.
Recently, I went for a boat ride in Munnar, Kerala. There was a long queue of 50 people standing in the hot sun. Behind me was a plump guy in his early 40s flashing his Prada shades and Arabic accent. He was trying to communicate with some Indians with sign language and few English words he knew. Soon few more people joined the conversation and he had more admirers. In that super enthusiastic junta, there was a gentleman who was so keen on making our guest comfortable that he called another gentleman who knew Arabic language. This gentleman had stayed in Dubai for some years and could speak broken Arabic. It was amusing to see all the heads turning left to right with the rally of conversation between our country's guest to the Dubai return VIP. Others standing had no language problems, but they hardly greeted each other. But when we have a foreigner around, we have no barriers.
Haven't we all seen the innumerable foreign nationals welcomed in our film/television industry? From Laura to Leonne, all are still our VIP guests after spending years and earning millions in our country.
And remember those devotees in the temple/ashram's wearing cotton saffron attire and rudraksh beads necklace who are made to sit in the front rows? And also that British/American well-dressed senior manager who visits from your head office and your boss continues to treat him like God, even in the informal evening dinners.
Like all the foreigners think, all Indians are poor, uneducated, snake charmers. We Indians feel all foreigners are millionaires, smart, geniuses whom we should always keep happy. No harm in following a great tradition, but lets follow it for our own people also. Lets welcome our neighbours equally open-heartedly as we do the strangers.
On a lighter note, the biggest irony is that we consider all foreigners as Obaama and they consider all Indians as Osaama. #NothingSeriousAboutIt
Recently, I went for a boat ride in Munnar, Kerala. There was a long queue of 50 people standing in the hot sun. Behind me was a plump guy in his early 40s flashing his Prada shades and Arabic accent. He was trying to communicate with some Indians with sign language and few English words he knew. Soon few more people joined the conversation and he had more admirers. In that super enthusiastic junta, there was a gentleman who was so keen on making our guest comfortable that he called another gentleman who knew Arabic language. This gentleman had stayed in Dubai for some years and could speak broken Arabic. It was amusing to see all the heads turning left to right with the rally of conversation between our country's guest to the Dubai return VIP. Others standing had no language problems, but they hardly greeted each other. But when we have a foreigner around, we have no barriers.
Haven't we all seen the innumerable foreign nationals welcomed in our film/television industry? From Laura to Leonne, all are still our VIP guests after spending years and earning millions in our country.
And remember those devotees in the temple/ashram's wearing cotton saffron attire and rudraksh beads necklace who are made to sit in the front rows? And also that British/American well-dressed senior manager who visits from your head office and your boss continues to treat him like God, even in the informal evening dinners.
Like all the foreigners think, all Indians are poor, uneducated, snake charmers. We Indians feel all foreigners are millionaires, smart, geniuses whom we should always keep happy. No harm in following a great tradition, but lets follow it for our own people also. Lets welcome our neighbours equally open-heartedly as we do the strangers.
On a lighter note, the biggest irony is that we consider all foreigners as Obaama and they consider all Indians as Osaama. #NothingSeriousAboutIt
It reminds me of the movie "Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge" ;)
ReplyDeleteWell, I think nowadays that kinna atithi is not welcome by anybody :D
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