THE COUTESY SCHOOL

 



“Be patient when you have nothing;

be polite when you have everything.”

Amit Kalantri

 

Yesterday, I had been to one of the Passport Seva Kendras for the third renewal of my passport. As most of you agree, the process of obtaining a new passport or getting it renewed, or any other issue relating to our passports, has not only been made extremely simplified, but has been made into a friendly and courteous experience. Well, many of us may not find the same experience when it comes to the police verification, in some police stations. I am not painting the experience with one straight brush, though…

But, by and large, we feel good as citizens… We come home, respected, valued and, above all, happy…

Someone at the top must have seriously taken note of the old manner in which citizens had to go through the same process. I remember going to the Passport office at Worli some twenty years ago to make my first passport… I came home a lot hassled and angry. The staff and the concerned officers were rude as if they were dealing with second-rate citizens or suspicious characters… But, as I said, someone at the top must’ve notices all this and decided to get rid of it totally… So, it has been outsourced to private organizations like TCS… The staff, I noticed at my centre, was young and, mostly, simple folk with low-income households… But, they have been trained to be exceptionally courteous – and, no matter what. Everything is communicated gently, and not in an impatient, rude or suspicious manner. The uncomfortable communication is conveyed in a comfortable manner…

So, it’s possible and, it does not have to be ‘that’ way… right?





Politeness and courtesy, if do not come with our education, we are uneducated. Some of us, don’t realize, how fortunate we are to have had this school and college education. Yesterday, when I was there at the Passport Seva Kendra, I saw a middle-aged woman so anxious… She couldn’t read what was displayed in English (like N-305) on the screen… “Mein padi-likhi nahi hoon,” she was seeking help. And I saw the security guard happily coming to her help…

Was it not fine education?





“With great power comes great responsibility.” Well, this truth had been, always, there… The Spider-Man only unveiled it, once more, for us.

Our education is, also, something that makes us ‘powerful’. Shouldn’t we, therefore, act with great responsibility… yes, towards our fellow-humans… and, especially towards those who do not have the ‘fortune’ of education?  

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pics.: Pixabay 1.  5033181 

                     2.   Pavlofox

Video: Atlanta Speech School

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