The week leading to Diwali has loads of online offers. Mindblowing discounts. Some of the most popular e-commerce websites have come up with dashing discounts online. After a much hyped The Big Billion Day offer – the social networking sites were flooded with “Dissapointed”, “u broke my trust”, “lost faith” , statuses owing to the dismal show by Flipkart.
And, there has been some open letters too. And, surprisingly, Sachin and Binny Bansal also replied to these by an apology mail. Sheer afraid of the mass agitation against Flipkart ? Afraid of another online chain crisis like “CCD Sucks”? May be.
But, if this unique case Flipkart is taken into account – Indians by nature did not deviate from their standard behavioral pattern on a broad 
perspective. And, culturally and historically, we have always been a society of rampant material greed and believed mostly on transactional relations rather than firm trust. So, trust and faith are things that do not come naturally to us. And, one thing may be the only characteristic that unites us is utter “Opportunistic” nature.
Let’s take a simple instance. When the traffic halts on one side of the road – we with a two-wheeler will always encroach to the oncoming side ignoring the fact that it will block both sides. We savor this moment such that we have gained advantage over the people around nevertheless creating a mess. It comes instinctively to us. And, we do it thinking if I don’t – the person beside me will do this and get advantage over me. An inherent pattern of sheer distrust. Hobbesian Society !
It starts at a very tender age. Our elders say, “Get 100 in mathematics. I will gift you a cycle.” The process of transactional mindset got seeded in us. and, the process continues. “Get admitted in IIT. I will gift you a bike.” And, the youngster registers in his mind – If I do something I will do it against some material benefit only which is not in line with the purpose of the actual work. In practical world – this is called “bribe.”
Our avarice nature leads to some very irrational behaviors in the context. While boarding the train, we unnecessarily create a mob at the entrance and fight to board the train – even though the train is scheduled for a 5 minutes halting with merely 6 passengers to board and everyone with 
numbered seats. This may seem a very natural to every Indian – but this peculiar behavioral pattern leads to much intense breed of corruption deep within. As it slowly imbibes the nature of distrust. And, indulge in a nonsense me-versus-society war.
Look at the mass movements in India the latest being the Jadavpur University student protest. None of our protest longed more than few months. And, the protests mock the hypocrisy of the society. Why do all the protests change their course and become politicized or de-tracked on its way? Remember the old Naxalite Movement in West Bengal. A fatal failure. Remember The Anna Hazare movement. Hoards of “middle-class” people joined at first. Media. Stars. Glamor. Coverage. The crowd even intensified. But, was the objective mattered seriously? I doubt.
Objectives only mattered to us when it is beneficial to us. Sorry, me. So, Irom Sharmila’s fast or AFSPA remained to the Indians as a matter of mere chutzpah at the “extended” India only. It hardly mattered. And, these narrow minds get easily manipulated.
So, after stealing or saying appalling things or even being convicted by court – politicians of India holds high hopes for coming back to power. And, strangely people votes for them. Very recently, the party cadres of Jayalalithaa – tried to spread violence on rejection of bail plea by Karnataka High Court. We shamelessly endorse corruption. Rather, we get eventually, habituated to it.
Historically also, we were not very different. The British found this out. There was always a financial solution to win us. Fighting was not always necessity. Mir Jaffar was paid off to win the Plassey battle. And, there are hundreds of instances of treasons and bribes in the history. That very transactional nature of us was seeded long back!
And, now, it has reached to a different level. We want discount in everything we buy. And, people manipulate our sentiments. We know that but still fell for that.
We still fall prey for the product which is priced at an enormously high price tag and giving a discount rather than a product with same price without discount. We needed to feel advantageous. And, buying that product with higher price tag can only fulfill that.
And, at this juncture – Flipkart on it’s the Big Billion Day made a fatal mistake. It displayed products which were off the shelves in few minutes. We are hurt. How can another person get advantageous than me? It hurt the age-old nonsensical sentiment of the Indians. And, so, the outrage.
And, nothing to worry. The next billion day sell – we will again jump into it. We can do anything if it satisfies our narrow sentiment of “me” or can feed our ego of “being advantageous.”
At the Make In India initiative speech by our PM, he made an interesting point, “
The biggest issue in India is trust. Why don’t we trust our fellow countrymen? I want to change this.”
Hopes are high! Sentiments also.
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