DO WE DESERVE A NATIONAL HOLIDAY?

Written as a frustrated employee on 1^ST Oct 2010

 I am an employee of a leading IT company in India. Everyone knows, or at least would have heard from the hordes of people in this field, how an IT-professional's life is. At least, we get to call ourselves “professionals” when we are anything but that.

India is one of the top countries to provide cheap paid labor to the many US clients. I came across a curious trend working in my 4 X 2 cubicle. Nobody wants to work in an in-house project 

or a domestic project. Everyone wants to work for the accounts which are based outside India. Why? Well, the lure of “on-site”- the favorite word in the dictionary of an IT professional - the rosy dream of getting posted overseas. Who cares if the Indian population needs educated individuals to stand up for them? Who cares if the Indian economy can benefit from stopping the brain-drain? All we care about is getting to US (or UK, for that matter) and earning money in dollars instead of rupees. That is the yardstick for success in this industry. If a person has been to on-site, then his life's destiny is fulfilled. If not, then of course, he's a loser- doesn't know the difference between Java and Unix, and is basically the victim of office-gossip.

But has it ever occurred to our minds that we give far too much importance to others and let them walk all over us? That we are ready to let go of our sense of pride for ourselves and our country and are willing to be doormats just for the sake of an appreciation mail? I, myself, am working for a US based client, who very calmly asked my team to work on 2^nd October, a national holiday. And my team agreed readily.  Of course, it doesn't matter that it is a day to honor the man who was the driving force behind bringing an end to the oppression of India at the hands of the British rulers. Of course, it doesn't matter that the US citizens would never dream of working on the 4^th of July. Of course, our struggles and our leaders were less important than theirs.

And whom should we blame for such blatant disregard of our values and our culture? Is it the fault of the foreigners – who stepped over our rights to celebrate our National holiday? Or is it our fault – the people who allow them to do so for meager gains like appreciation notes and congratulations mail?

Isn't it time that we stopped acting like lap-dogs and be the 'professionals' we call ourselves?

If we, the so-called educated mass, do not appreciate and take pride in the immense sacrifices of the people who got us here, then who will?