Sir, some politeness please

I sat for an interview at the World Health Organization in their Delhi office. The receptionist asked if I’d like to have tea or coffee. She showed us to a room to rest and told us to feel comfortable. The security man thanked me after the security check for allowing him to search my bag. When I entered the room, the four interviewers all stood up to shake hands with me and each of them gave a self introduction of his name and what he is doing at WHO. When they asked questions, it was as though they want to learn something from me. 

Our politicians, Bureaucrats, government officers, and yes not forgetting our students' union leaders, on the other hand, behave like our new colonial masters. From big to subtle ways, they do things to show us our place; that they are at a higher level and we are inferior. It can be discriminating, oppressive, and dehumanizing. But it can also be funny. Funny when some young people who just got into civil services start to act as though they have become very powerful.

People elsewhere (including Indian officers at the national level, I know) are learning how to be polite. We continue to play petty power games which are stupid and unnecessary. After all, at the end of the day, you and I are of equal flesh and blood. You fart, I fart. You might have learned to hide it but don’t you still do it sometimes, Sir?

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