Kotta blog post

The people of AP (and Telangana and Rayalseema etc.) were amongst the first generation of Indians to make it big in the knowledge business in the US. This came from an ant-like sense of perseverance, an instinctive ability to sacrifice immediate gains for long-term objectives, and eating gongoora pacchadee (don't ask me how that helped. I'm a bit of a fake-Andhra, myself). But that generation's sucessulu has stunted the ethical growth of this generation. *My* generation. Burdened with the expectations of following in their shoesulu, the current Hyderabadi's desire to win seems to have led to his forgetting how to play the game.

What is about Hyderabad and Ayn Rand? I bet Rand-garu is revered over there. As a sorta, kinda, native Andhra, I know for a fact that today, the great people of my state value individual achievement without the least bit consideration towards how that milestone was achieved. The era of VVS Laxman and Pullela Gopichand; people who maintained a sense of dignity and sportsmanship while still being extremely competitive, is all but over. The Hyderabadi achiever of today would not give a flying dengoo whether he circumvented rules, ruthlessly abused his advantages, actively disadvantaged his rivals, cheated, copied, stole or broke the law in his pursuit for success and a respectable price on the arranged marriage market.

Any questions about morality are dealt with that most irritating of Hyderabadi traits, the grimacing smile, the shrug of the shoulders and the extended, "Kyaaaaaaaaaaa reeeeee!" While this attitude has led to a successful generation of Telugu-valu, both in India and the US, I fear the long-term repercussions of this ethical bankruptcy. Humanity and civilization moves forward from coöperation and acknowledging the rights of others. The ridiculously Fountainhead-ian levels of individualism being exhibited by the modern Hyderabadi is in the end, going to turn out to be counter-productive.

So, what do we do? Do we begin to live like Bengalis? A hive mind with epicenters in Kolkata, Oxford and Moscow? Probably not. Like Gujaratis? Yeah, we’re more MNC employee material as opposed to SME owners. How about Tamilians? Annoyingly conservative, anal-neurotic intellectuals? Wait, I thought we covered Bengalis. Hmm...

Nevermind. AP, keep going. Apply to top US universities with doctored letters of recommendation and fictional anecdotes in your essays. Force your children into studying engineering and/or medicine and continue chastising the child who wants to grow up to be something other than a B.Tech-MBA working in the US.

What was the point of all this? Was it that a community bereft of morality produces people who complain about my work to my bosses while assuring me that everything is fine? Or was it that as a Bangalorean, I find the average Hyderabadi to be a pretty annoying drag. I don't know what the moral. Perhaps there is no moral. Morality is like cutlery.

Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it. ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.