Why Hinduism is for Capitalists

As I sat in the doctor's room earlier this week, I had a conversation with her that I've had countless times since I moved here.

Doctor: How long have you been in India?

Me: A little over 6 months

Doctor: What are you doing here? Studying?

Me: No, I work here

Doctor: What? Couldn't find a job in America?”

Me: I had a job in America; I quit so I could take my current job

Doctor: Sureeeee

A lot of people can not seem to understand why I voluntarily decided to move back. I find this to be incredibly ironic since these are the same people who have benefitted tremendously from India's opportunities. Even after I explain my rationale, they usually go “I'm sure things were crazy in the banking sector when you left”

Not necessarily a vote of confidence, right? So to tally things up….

People who think I voluntarily quit my job to take on something new: 3 (excluding family)

People who think I had to move to India and work for my uncle because KeyBanc was going to fire me: everyone else

Speaking of doctors, my experience with the healthcare system made me realize that India is actually a very capitalistic society in several regards.

First thing that's very capitalistic…healthcare. It doesn't matter how crowded a waiting room is…whoever has the most amount of money get priority, no matter what.
Person A + Fever + Money > Person B + Broken Leg + No Money

You can literally walk into a room that has 100 people waiting in line and walk up to the front if you have cash in hand….there is no wait for the prosperous (likely due to the bribes they accept)

As I sat back and thought about how brutally efficient healthcare is for the well-off in India, it came to me….capitalism is natural in India despite its socialist history. I could start seeing examples all around me…but one really stood out. Hinduism…the more I thought about it, capitalists should be Hindus. This sounds outlandish but hear me out.

Christians and Muslims go to church / temple at a pre-designated time and pray. This obviously isn't very time-friendly or time sensitive. What about if you don't want to attend Mass at 1:00 PM on Sunday? Or how about the sermon isn't really what you want to discuss that day?

Hindus on the other hand show up to temple whenever they please. You want a specific prayer at 12:30 PM on a Monday? Sure, not a problem…if you have money.

That's right…money. Hinduism is probably the only major religion that charges people to pray. While it's not mandatory to “donate”, I'm fairly confident the priest will start cursing you if he know you can afford to and don't. Temples also operate under the school of thought that the person who wants to spend the most money…is the most important person in the room. If your pooja costs a lot of money, then the priest will shoo others out of the room to conduct your special pooja.

So let's say having a religion that caters to your schedule and interest isn't enough, no problem. Maybe you don't have time to pray everyday, that's not an issue. If you donate enough money to the temple, the priest will even pray for you EVERY DAY. What's easier than that?

Of course the downside to a service-based religion is that have to pay for everything, including good fortune. I can't speak for other religions but I highly doubt most religious leaders sport diamond earrings or Rolex watches. Now, it's not mandatory to buy your priest gifts but I'd think they donate these goods if they thought it was superfluous.

Shifting gears, the longer I've lived in India, the more I realize that I'm made for working internationally. Lots of people say they want to work abroad and from that group, a few take the plunge. However, even when they make the push, I really have to debate how much they actually want to experience the local culture. It seems like everyone wants the experience of working abroad without any of the hardships. I think the hardships and unique situations are the best part of the experience. There was a NY Times Article in which a bunch of Indian-Americans, who came back to India, whined about how things are done differently. As I sat there reading the article…I was thinking 'well of course they do things different in India, it's a whole different world” I think people in their 20s who work abroad for a bit make the mistake of thinking it's going to be like studying abroad. Working abroad isn't a party, sure it's fun at times but more so than anything, it's a challenge because you have to question whether what you know is really the best way to approach a problem. People get frustrated and lament on how stupid some things are in India but that's really missing the point…lots of things in India do appear inefficient but it's usually the best solution given the circumstances. You can't expect things to be just like America, India isn't a static country…it's an evolving country and constantly transforming.

Expats who come here want to eat their cake and have it too. If most of them are perfectly honestly, they don't deserve the responsibilities they're given….which is the reason why most of us are here. You can't complain about the situation at hand when you're basically given the authority to treat your job like a grand experiment. The trade-off in receiving so much power is that you're being handed a less than ideal situation…instead of whining about it, people should be grateful that they have an amazing platform to learn