Recently on a trip home from Qatar, I was seated at the Business Class premium lounge of Qatar Airways and having a quick snack and drink before boarding my flight when I noticed a young man from a far eastern country frantically searching for napkins and then rushing to the coffee machine placed on the counter beside the lovely array of pastries and biscuits.
Apparently he had spilt some of the coffee on the coffee machine as he was filling his cup with the hot beverage. I watched in amusement as I nibbled on my steak, and saw him using the napkins to clean the spilt coffee off the machine. Seeing him, a couple of the smartly dressed lounge crew members approached him and asked him to leave it for them to clean. They obviously did not want one of their premium class customers to be cleaning their coffee machine.
He humbly bowed before them and then spoke something to them and continued to clean the coffee machine, not just wiping it clean of any coffee that he had accidentally spilled, but also went on to shine the base, side, and top of the coffee machine till the stainless steel glistened in the reflected light from the ceiling. He smiled again at the lounge crew who continued their attempts to convince him that they were there to take over the cleaning of the mess he had inadvertently created. He would not budge till he was convinced that the coffee machine was ready to be used by the next person who may wish to have coffee. He then bowed to them, and went back to his seat and sipped from his cup.
I could not help but reflect on his action. I have seen passengers snapping their fingers and beckoning the lounge crew on earlier occasions to take their orders. I have seen passengers spilling sodas or food items on the floor and walking away and leaving the mess on the floor for others to walk over it and mess it up further till someone came to clear it off.
I have witnessed passengers get off the flight coming from places like Singapore that can well be called one of the cleanest countries where even chewing gum could land you in trouble, let alone spitting on the road, or throwing your empty bottles out of the car; yet as soon as they land in cities like Chennai, they do not hesitate to spit on the footpath even as they wait for their taxi to pick them up, or throw used plastic bottles on the road and walk away as if nothing has happened.
I cant help but wonder what is it that makes people behave like this – even well educated people who break all rules in my country though they would meekly follow and comply with all rules when they visit these foreign countries? What is it that differentiates such people from the likes of that passenger who was willing to clean a coffee machine just because he had accidentally spilled coffee over it, and thereby made it unattractive for the next person to use? Why did he care for the next person? Why did he care for someone other than himself? Why did he take it upon himself to remedy his doing, rather than wait for someone else to do their duty?
Is it his upbringing? Is it that he had better parents who taught him to be a better human being? Is it the way of life in some parts of the world? We have read about Japanese fans who systematically cleaned out all garbage and debris from the many football stadiums in Qatar after every world cup match they attended in 2022. We have also read about hooligans from other parts of the world that destroy public property and deface historical sites. This is something that we see very often in my home country too. Go to any tourist location and you can almost certainly see graffiti on the walls, beetle nut stains on the walls and floors, stench of urine behind walls, used plastic bottles, paper and other garbage strewn across all around while the rare trash baskets remain empty.
I guess there is only one answer. Its about your upbringing. Its about your value systems and what you believe in. Its about taking responsibility. Its about caring for others without expecting anything in return. At the end of the day, its all about your culture. Whichever way you want to look at it.
You can agree or disagree. But think about it.
Rajeev's journey of life 