Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Robert Frost

Passage 2    What WE Must Learn From the West

1.    Indian culture has deep rooted family values. Parents make enormous sacrifice for their children and children consider it their duty to take care of their aged parents. There is much love and affection in Indian family life.

2.    In the West, contractual Obligations are very much honoured. This is important. Enforceability of legal rights and contracts is the most important factor in enhancing the credibility of the people and the nation. In India we are concerned about fulfilling personal promises but we do not extend this to public life.

3.    Principles must come first. Privileges and principles are two sides of the same coin. When we are using our privileges as citizens , it is equally important to follow the  principles. We need to understand our responsibilities towards our nation.

4.    India can teach family values to the world.

5.    India must learn to value punctuality, accountability, dignity of labour, professionalism and honouring contracts from the world.

6.    We keep our homes clean but when we go out we do think twice before littering on the other hand, parks and streets are litter free and clean.

7.    We are apathetic about community matters. We see serious problem around us but do not try to solve them. We feel solving them is somebody else’s responsibility.

8.    Successful societies are those that harmoniously combine loyalty to family and loyalty to community.

9.    Mr. Murthy has seen bright people who prefer to be told what to do by their bosses. They do not think or act independently.

10. We do not respect other person’s time. Indian standard Time always runs late and deadlines are never met.

11. Marriage is regarded as a pious relationship in which husband and wife are bonded for life.

12. Dignity of labour means respecting each and every work which is done honestly. It means giving equal respect to all kinds of work- manual or intellectual.

13. No , Indians do not acknowledge the accomplishments of others.

SHORT NOTE:

In the West, people have much better societal orientation.  They care more for the society than we do. Indians need to learn respect for the public good.  We need to learn accountibity from the West. Everyone must discharge their duties sincerely and learn dignity of labour. People in the west are professional in approach. People there never intermingle their personal life and relations with the professional one.  We should learn this from them. Intellectual intelligence is another important value that we can adopt from the West. Children are taught to think independently from the very young age. So they grow up to be strong and confident individuals.  The Western value system also teaches contractual obligation to us.