When will we learn professionalism?

There is this club in Bangalore for the amateur photgraphers. They advertised that they would accept pictures from anybody for the 2008 exhibition. We were highly interested and so sent few pictures. One picture was selected and we were instructed to provide the final enlarged print. That was done and then on the day of the exhibition, I land up in exhibition hall at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Lo and behold: they inform without any word of apology that they have decided not to display our print. The print, when enlarged, does not fit the perspective and they had been silent about that.

It seems that they have been trying to convey to me this information for the last one month or so………..and could not reach me through email or phone…. Can you believe that? We are in this highly connected world and two tech-savvy persons in IT capital of India cannot communicate.

One month? ......... I submitted the picture only 20 days back.

I was indecent because I questioned them….great…another boomerang for trying to find the truth….

Then I expressed my “grief” J through email……I was told that I am seeking explanations again and again…

Also, it seems I am irresponsible because I am not “calling” enough to enquire about the fate of my photograph….great: though not mentioned anywhere, this seems to be required….

I found the behavior of the organizer to be extremely arrogant and irresponsible.

I was extremely frustrated by this. This club, I guess, is run by mostly educated, well-off IT professionals. But there is no culture of correct communication. I guess, that is part and parcel of Indian culture. We can get highly educated, but we still have feudal outlook. We have not learnt that the moment you are involving the public, you are accountable to the public. Just an NGO is liable to be questioned for the usage of donations, the clubs are required to be transparent and accountable for all the actions involving those who do not belong to the coterie. There is one thing: setting up a club and there is the other responsibility of providing proper transparency. In India, when we are the organizers or top office bearers of any organization, be it small or big, we feel that we are the boss and we cannot be questioned. If you question, you are wrong and not the other way round.

Realization!

In today’s high-paced life, all prefer to conserve time as much as possible and so do I. At the end of each day’s hectic schedules and choking traffic, little time and zeal stay back for shopping. Nevertheless, at the same time we cannot ignore our daily needs. Thanks to globalization, now the shopping malls cater to all our needs. The pleasant ambience and the systematic display of products in the super markets make shopping hassle-free. Moreover, tons of attractive offers against more or less all products overshadowed the existence of the local market vendors in our mind. For last couple of months, I never bothered to enter the local market, which is just a few steps from my place. I rather preferred the near-by sprawling mall.

Last Wednesday early morning, while preparing our lunch I found that I was running short of vegetables. I rushed to our local market, as it was too early for the mall to open. That day one little instance in the market touched my heart and left its mark forever in my mind. The machher bazaar (fish market) and the sobji bazaar (vegetable market) face each other. I was buying vegetables when I heard a voice from the back calling me. I turned back and found one of the fish vendors, machh kaku as I once used to call him was looking anxiously to me. When I asked why he was calling he replied “Maa onek din dhore tumaye dekhchilam na tai khub mon ta khachkhach korchilo,aaj tumaye dekhe nishchinto holam.Tumar sorir torir bhalo aache tu?Bari te sobai bhalo tu?”[I didn’t see you Maa (mother, affectionately used for girl of any age) for long so, I was anxious and today I’m relieved. How are you and everybody at home?]. I was surprised by the fact he remembered me and noticed my absence. When I told him that all are well, he enquired about my long absence. The anxiety over his face was so genuine that I was in dilemma about what to tell him, should I tell that I am ‘Mallophilic’ or should I give any arbitrary answer to bypass him. By telling the actual reason, I didn’t want to hurt him. So I smiled and said nothing. After a pause, I thanked him and praised his memory for remembering me among hundreds of his customers. He spontaneously replied “Maa! meyeder ki keo bhulte pare” (Can anybody forget his daughter!).I was speechless and left the market by greeting him goodbye. On my way back home, I questioned myself what made him to remember me, his good memory or his business strategy to please his customers or just the pure affection. ‘Out of sight is out of mind’ is the general saying and for me it fitted well as I never bothered to remember him before that day and he was just any other passing by character for me. That entire day I hunted for the answer, but couldn’t come to any conclusion. That weekend when I visited the luxurious mall, I felt something was missing in its air!! Then I realized my answer.