Workaholism: A far cry

(Published in Banking Services Chronicle August 2004)


I recently read an article on "workaholism" by Mahesh Bhatt. For the uninitiated, a "workaholic" is a person who has a strong desire to work hard and finds it difficult to stop working. In the article the author talked about how this was becoming a problem. But the problem, I feel, is still irrelevant to most of the Indians. For, like obesity, it afflicts only one of the strata of the society.

A section of Indians, who are affluent, tends to over-eat. And people from this section are seen to be obese. They talk of the threats of cholesterol even as they gorge on burgers and patties, chaat and samose. While the rest of the country hungers for two square meals. At some places undernourishment assumes even sub-Saharan proportions. Similarly, while there are people like Bhatt who feel to have over-worked, the larger India still suffers from a work deficit.

In fact, we can't be workaholics—most of us, that is. And I have found several reasons for this. In general, most of us have a great number of social obligations. Even though most of the families have gone nuclear, the bonds with our kith and kin are strong. People living in Delhi—mind you, people work a lot here—are often bombarded with non-paying assignments from those they have left behind in their native states. If you don't pay heed to these, you may be termed as haughty.

Besides, India is a country of ceremonies. Every few months there is a wedding, a birth, etc in our extended families. These occasions are not seen as personal events. They need to be solemnised by the society as a whole. And the underlying notion is: the more, the merrier. This becomes particularly evident when you see the rush in trains during festival and wedding seasons.

Still, one has time and one can work. But then come the infrastructural problems. Power (or the lack of it) has a crucial role to play here. Our life has become so dependent on electricity that its absence saps away our capacity to work. Gensets and inverters have become a necessity but act only as a poor substitute for mainline power supply. Telephones have become abundant but connectivity is still a major problem.

Social infrastructure is no better. Health service is not in its proper shape. You have a choice between expensive hospitals and poor healthcare. Besides, lack of proper appointments may unnecessarily harass the patients and their attendants. Education is another hurdle. Admission-seeking often becomes a fulltime business for the students and their parents.

Another reason why we can't be workaholics is that we love talking. In fact, many of the Indians find themselves uncomfortable in the West because they don't get to talk. Mobile phones and Internet chatting have only helped this habit grow further. Aimless meetings also turn into talk-shops. The Indian bureaucrats have a reputation of being at meetings whenever you need to approach them.

And then people do less work also because they get depressed at being unable to do much work. The average Indian knows he needs to work. But he often feels constrained by the circumstances mentioned above. This gives rise to a conflict within oneself and often leads to frustration. The result: less work.

Most of the Indians therefore need to work rather than thinking of work burden or workaholism. We must not forget that America became the great nation that it is today because of the Puritan ethics that its residents employed. The Americans worked, made money, saved it and invested it again. The virtuous cycle of work and money has today placed them in so comfortable a position.

Only years of work can give us the privilege of being able to choose our profession. And the latitude to pursue our hobby. Then we can really claim to have become free.