Herd Mentality:
Herd mentality....visible in everything we do:
1) Mugging/ghotting: Everyone shall mug/ghot, or in rare alternative cases, chill out completely before an exam (I did witness this during the analog electronics test on 3/3/08).
2) Applying for companies/choosing a career etc.: I salute those courageous few, who choose to go off the beaten track. The rest of us, especially in India, are engineers/fake engineers/MBAs etc.
3) Societal trends: Sometimes I feel watching cricket is also part of the same mentality. Add the English Premier League to the latest list of fads, along with supporting Manchester United just because they have/had Cristiano Ronaldo. There are way too many examples to mention here.
4) Special Mention, 'Whooshing': Jesus said "Donot do unto others what you do not want to be done to you." Apparently, no one cares. People get whooshed at the drop of a hat/coffee cup/mention of transfer pricing. And this is an infectious disease. The only saving grace is that every one gets hooshed by the other. Parity restored.
Maybe, it is part of our psyche, after all. Newspaper articles and movies have been devoted to the same. Is it because of the insecurity, which shrouds us, or an innate dislike for risk taking??1) Mugging/ghotting: Everyone shall mug/ghot, or in rare alternative cases, chill out completely before an exam (I did witness this during the analog electronics test on 3/3/08).
2) Applying for companies/choosing a career etc.: I salute those courageous few, who choose to go off the beaten track. The rest of us, especially in India, are engineers/fake engineers/MBAs etc.
3) Societal trends: Sometimes I feel watching cricket is also part of the same mentality. Add the English Premier League to the latest list of fads, along with supporting Manchester United just because they have/had Cristiano Ronaldo. There are way too many examples to mention here.
4) Special Mention, 'Whooshing': Jesus said "Donot do unto others what you do not want to be done to you." Apparently, no one cares. People get whooshed at the drop of a hat/coffee cup/mention of transfer pricing. And this is an infectious disease. The only saving grace is that every one gets hooshed by the other. Parity restored.
I shall leave this question to psychologists, newspapers, reader's digest and of course, Aamir Khan to discuss and solve.......and to anyone else who is interested!
This blog post has been created owing to incidents in the very recent past, collated with others in the not so recent past.....and in one way, an excuse to return!
Life@IIMB has been pretty hectic, tiring, unforgiving, demanding etc. etc. After all, bring all the toppers at various levels, school/college etc. and put them here, and the resultant mixture leaves NO room for error. Still, it has been an experience to savour....and there is a lot more to savour!
13 comments:
Well, that wud make u a buffalo too rite?
Totally second your opinion (esp Point number 3). It's not just supporting for Man U, its the whole sudden craze with football. People behave as if they have been born out of a football instead of a womb!
Ahh well..."I just got lucky"!
As for AP, do you have anyone in mind?
The psyche that works with ppl is that it's much better thinking abt Football than a frickin' Compre!
Nice and well written. I agree that most of us follow the path made for us by others. But let us not forget that it is a natural symptom of man seeking security in doing the same things again and again (a point which you have mentioned in the article).
The best way for us to break the herd mentality would be to act differently in small things to begin with. Thus one can work from this start and achieve great milestones by doing the same things differently.
Hope you can recognize me now.
Hooshing!!
(shudders)
Sometimes I'm just so glad I'm female!!
-manasa
@All: Thanks for the comments...
@Manasa: Thank your stars indeed...I had prophesized a few days ago that I would be hooshed sooner than later...It did come true!
I keep discussing this topic often in my friend circles. I have also been a part of this herd mentality of course but not entirely. My personal interests and views vary quite a bit from my friends. I think the profession part in this herd mentality is partly due to very less encouragement for anything else. Be a robot (ie, engineer in many cases) or else be ruined. I find in my present place things are different. I interacted with students who do their bachelors and masters in Religious studies, music, English literature studies, art history,art , Education, disability studies, sustainability,pure sciences etc. lot different from what we even imagine.
This cricket(or football in other cases) mentality is something which gives me nightmare.
Well written article.
@Don/Anand: So true, you meet CAs and people of other backgrounds, and see their diverse perspectives! It is the same difference we are all finding in a business school, the balanced perspective! I sometimes feel we engineers are just all the same, having done nothing too unique!
Did you get my identity right?(I dont remember being called Don at any point of time :P )
I am extremely sorry V.Anand...got confused with a batchmate of mine, who comments frequently!! (I hope the identity is the same this time :D)
You are correct now :)
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