Gautam Gambhir has decided to forego the last Test between India and Sri Lanka for his sister's marriage in Delhi. The Australians take leave from Cricketing duties for much less. Yet, it seems to be a matter of discussion in the media here.
Ganguly in his column in TOI actually defends Gambhir for what he is doing. Why? Why does a man trying to take care of his family have to be defended at all?
This is a very strange phenomenon I see all over India, in workplaces, in schools and colleges or in public engagements. Family time is viewed as an oddity. I remember a Chef friend of mine had just returned from Canada and as parents there do, went off on a weekday to his son's school to watch his son at basketball in Goa. For the next few days, all of us spoke of his neglect of work for trivial pursuits such as that. Strange but true.
Another instance, not too long ago, there was a lady worker on my floor into her fifth month pregnancy and she had to go for a check up. A colleague went hammer and tongs at her the next day. Intelligently, he avoided mentioning the pregnancy, but he picked on her lack of detail on the previous day and how she could have rectified it the next day, when she was not present.
This brings me to my question. Are we not prepared to seek or take some family time that all of us require from time to time. Is it blasphemy to speak about personal engagements during work in India. I have seen so many people conveniently lying about it at work.
This timidity we carry from schools, onto colleges and into the jobs that we go to. In US, many of my friends remain the best workers for time, but low on quality many a time as the recoup is just not there. Is it the reason that our people do not have original ideas? A question there....
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