The 'selfish' reasons!

This note was written by Mr.Sadaf Siddiqui and the original can be found by clicking on the title

Prologue: This note is a follow-up viewpoint on the issue of brain-drain raised by Drashti Buch and later discussed by Rudri Buch, in their respective FB notes(Also can be read in the previous two posts in this blog - Maulin). Reading it in isolation might lead to a hazy understanding of my take on the issue, so take your call on how much of background reading you want to do, corresponding to how much you are really interested in knowing & understanding the universal set of proposed arguments so far. Importantly, when I say 'you' or 'we' or anyone, I am not referring to anyone in particular, just a general person. I just figured that the issue is not so black and white as it seems. It does not have a clear good and bad. Also, I was trying to refrain from jumping into the debate but I've been itching to write something for quite some time now and found this to be a worthy stimulus. So buckle up!

The inexplicable boundaries
My biggest area of discomfort in the whole set of arguments is how we operate in a very convenient set of assumptions to support our viewpoints (as a matter of fact, I might end up doing the same to some extent subconsciously. Pardon me if I do!). What I am referring to here is the geographical reference of the place you think you belong to and the extent to which we are ready to expand the boundaries and decide "There! That's the exact square kilometers of geography I will associate my sense of belonging to!". If you haven't guessed it so far, I'm questioning the idea of being gratuitous to ones country for being born there and hence playing with the argument of 'paying it back'. First of all, why country? why not the continent or if we are at it, the planet?. And if the argument is about 'starting off somewhere', then why not the state, the city or the locality (which would mean that when an NRI comes 'back', he comes back to the exact locality from where he left. Puts a much bigger turmoil in his head if he has lived in multiple locations within the country). With reference to the topic, if the concern of helping people because you can is purely humanitarian, why should NRIs not go to Africa and help people there. The condition is much worse and hence the need there is greater. Even if it is not for the humanitarian reasons, the argument is still shaky because for all the hue and cry of the rat race among people within the country, why get sucked into the idea of the rat race between countries with the thought of "contribute to your own country only and make it better than every other one out there"? On an afterthought, if the reasons of belongingness is owing to your ancestors, well, then who knows you might trace it back to Aryans (and hence Europe) and develop the urge to go back there and contribute. You cannot put an arbitrary limit to the no of generations you're going to bestow the privilege of being your ancestors.

Having said all that, thanks to the flatter world, it really should not really matter where you live as long as you are helping people in general. You can be sitting on spacecraft in the lunar orbit and still be able to transfer funds and monitor their effective deployment for developmental activities. Your physical presence is no more a pressing criteria. In fact, you might end up creating more jobs back here by not actually being present to do it yourself. When it comes to getting your own hands dirty, lets not associate a higher moral ground to it just for the sake of arguments. If you cannot be a Anna Hazare, being a Narayan Murhy is no lesser if you can effect as much development even while sitting in the comfortable confines of your office space. Strive as much as possible to help as many and as needy as possible disassociating it with morality. That should make it much less complicated ordeal for the sub-conscience.

The inherent selfishness
Now, who are we kidding? Human beings are inherently selfish. I'm not being a cynic here. This is a very objective premise. You think you belong to homo sapiens, you like it or not, you are selfish and rightly so, or how else do you propose to survive in the world designed for the fittest to survive. Human beings have survived only because of they were selfish enough to employ natural resources for their growth and development. If we romance with the idea of helping people, it is purely because it gives us a sense of moral superiority over the self who wouldn't do it (Unless the motivation is to gain higher moral ground over others which is even worse). This is exactly the reason why the ratio of (people talking about doing things for others) to (people actually doing them) is so much larger than 1. You like the idea of doing something great because there is a sense of fulfillment and it caresses the ego airlifting it to the terrace of the tower of morality and goodness.

Again, having said all that, selfishness isn't bad. It makes perfect sense to find the exact place of comfort for yourself (both physical and mental). If the mental comfort of helping people is able to balance well with the physical discomfort of being in a underdeveloped setting, so be it. And vice versa. After all, you got only one life to experience so many things and you got your own set of desires to fulfill. In the end, on the death bed, you do not want to end up with a regret of not having lived a comfortable life or not having helped people, whichever it is for you. So think wisely on how you want to spend the limited tenure of life in this world, because the moment your retirement comes calling you do not want to end up wanting to have done something you didn't. And whatever it is that you have to do to avoid that (as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else), you are on as high a moral ground as the biggest philanthropist in this world. A happy person with a happy life will end up making a lot of other people happy inevitably. That's a start in making this world a better place. Lets work it upwards from there.

Couldn't have said it better than Mother Teresa herself:
Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.

Phew! That feels better!! :]