DISGRACEFUL INDIAN MANAGERS/SUPERIORS.
The Indian Ambassador to the State of Kuwait is an official representative of India and Indians in Kuwait. But the lay Indians like me working in this country are also the Ambassadors of India. More than Him, we the unofficial Ambassadors of India are responsible for creating a good image of our country in many respects. However, it is very sad that some of the very Indians who can depict good image of our country, our great culture, history and above all our humane nature are mutilating these great attributes of India. By doing so they are disgracing not only the image of India but also of Indians. And who are these people in Kuwait disgracing our image? Most of them are those belonging to the class of top executives and managers.
Rarely will one find an Indian manager good and humane towards his subordinates coming from different Indian regions and different nationalities. For the sake of his remunerations which are of himalayan magnitudes compared to what he can dream of in India, he will exploit his subordinates to the maximum detrimental to the image of India and well-being of his subordinates who meekly succumb to the arrogance of their Indian Managers and superiors in the absence of proper Labour Laws in this country to protect the rights of the labourers. The system of hire and fire without the support of Labour Law makes the position of the arrogant Manager as that of brute dictator Saddam Hussein. I still remember how a friend of mine and a compatriate a few years back died out of shock when his own Indian Manager treated him badly inspite of putting in 3 decades of service in that company at Shuwaikh. This incident and many such brutalities of Managers towards their subordinates I have recorded in my diary to bring out to the notice of the society at an appropriate time and to put this type of Managers into shame, not only to them into shame but even to their children, grand children and their family members as well.
When you carefully observe the quality of top Indian Executives and Managers in Kuwait, you will notice in many of them genuine qualities and leadership required to hold their positions are missing and out of fear for their jobs or otherwise they go on exploiting and harassing the staff working under them even pruning their salaries and at moments even sacking the employees in the name of cost saving device blaming falsely the world recession. But when the time of their perks, privileges and facilities come, they protect the same first, at that time there is no fear of recession. The weak Manager is the one who sack the staff working under him to increase the profit of his department. Sacking is not the solution but devising ways to improve the sale of their products and thereby increasing the profit of the company. But idiotic minded Managers will not be able to do this for lack of appropriate management skill. World Recession effect in Kuwait is to my knowledge is an illusion and not a concrete happening though it is waning very much elsewhere where its effect was felt.
Overwhelming Indians holding top positions in Kuwait are acting like Maharajas inspite of being treated in this society as 'Hindi Muskin' with disdain. They are not Hindi Muskins in Kuwait only but even in India as well suffering from lot of defficiencies and for such Maharajas Kuwait is a nice place to act like Hitlers in front of their subbordinates and as slaves shamelessly in front of their bosses. From my personal experience during my last three decades in Kuwait I noticed that Indians holding top positions and treating their subordinates as dirt are themselves from dirt background in India intellectually, culturally, traditionally, historically, educationally and professionally. It is this class of people who blackens the fair image of Indians and India in Kuwait. Good that many of them are treated by their bosses as dirt otherwise these bloody Indian managers and top executives would create havoc for employees working under them. It is this dirty class of Indians that is creating dirty image of Indians in Kuwait. They think they have devine right to dictate their terms to others. When I say others, I mean only to those who are below their noses. Beyond that area they are all bloody fools. In their working areas they are like Monarchs of what they survey - beyond their official areas they are unknown entities and cowards hiding from the metropolitan society. On their official chairs they are like Lions but beyond that they are like Cockroaches.
I still remember our elders telling never to work under Indian Manager because normally he is bias against other Indians coming from different Indian States, culture, language, religion, caste and tradition. It was also said that Indians are most envious of other Indians and if you find your manager in this category then you will surely face the doom. Many of the people working under many Indian Managers and Superiors are suffering from physical and mental pains and these Indian Managers like sadistic minded prefer to inflict such pains and unnecessary tensions on their subordinates especially on Indians only because they are the soft spots for their game of torturing others. If anybody thinks all Indians are one then they are sadly mistaken. All Indians may have same one type of Passport but they are not the same one type of Indians. All Indians having same type of Passport will not be the same, they are different Indians. One type of Passport for all Indians will never make all Indians as one. We are innumerable Indians under one India and at moments I think if at all we are one Indians under one Indian Passport, it is only because Indianness is imposed on all of us. Given a chance, overwhelming majority of Indians will cecede from the Indian Union and will prefer to have their own sovereign independence. During the Chinese war against India in 1962, a section of Indians under the official political party "Communist Party of India" openly supported China and its invasion of India. This is the quality of some Indians to show their unfaithfulness towards their own country.
I have just returned from my vacation and during this period I noticed that many of my compatriots earlier working in Kuwait inspite of having palatial houses, lot of money and limousines are suffering from mental distress, cardiac problems and other sicknesses acquired in Kuwait while working under stress due to the mental and physical pressures put in by their managers. Most of them are the victims of the maltreatment of their Indian Managers.
I feel Indian mission in Kuwait must keep a careful watch on the behaviour of top Indian Executives and Managers because many of them are on the spree to disgrace the fair image of India to protect their remunerations and positions. It is they who spoil the god image of my country in Kuwait. It is they who can create good or bad image of India and Indians in Kuwait and unfortunately they prefer doing the latter to protect their remunerations which really high and about which they can never dream of in India.
Many of the Indian Managers while landing in Kuwait first time came as ordinary employees but later on either thru their hard work or chance or fluke or by acting as pimps by supplying their wives to their bosses rose to the position of Managers which carry lot of benefits. In order to maintain and retain these benefits, many of them do all the cruelties towards their subordinates. Otherwise, to become a Manager in Kuwait you need not necessarily become highly educated or highly smart in your profession. Many times donkeys make better Managers. A man who was pealing potatoes and cutting Onions at Shuwaikh Modern Restaurant in Kuwait finally in 1975 became my superior who did not know the difference between "is" and "are" when I first time started working in Kuwait.
The other thing our elders also told during those days was never to work under Goan superiors because he is a coward of first grade. For the sake of money and power he will do anything his boss tells him. If one carefully observes this point one can easily notice so many of our Goans earlier in Kuwait holding top positions were treating their subordinates as slaves. Some of them are retired and living in Goa now not as full fledged human beings but as cowards, hiding from public view because they are afraid of their lives since they did more harm for staff working under them than good when they could do good. They have no guts even to move freely in the open. I am sure people are aware of how one Mr. A. Furtado a big businessman in pre-invasion period of Kuwait, during the invasion of Kuwait was confined in Goa to his home only by those whom he harassed in Kuwait.
Another Goan Mr. F. Almeida from the Goan village Saligao while working as top executive in one big private company was treating staff under him as sub-human beings and at the time of recruitment even questioning the caste status of the Goan candidates. Mr. Almeida was a Goan Christian Brahmin and was very boastful of his high caste status. But he was such a shameless Brahmin that like a rejected Harijan he was polishing the shoes of his bosses to save him from his chair. The so called Brahmins working in Kuwait are not genuine Brahmins, they are bastardised Brahmins and precisely they are so, they are leaving their Indian shores and working in Kuwait against all rules of their genuine Brahmin caste. Instead of perfroming their priestly duties as per the terms of their caste they are doing commercial jobs of harassing others to accumulate money and that too in a foreign country and yet they shamelessly call themselves Brahmins. The genuine Brahmins are not leaving their shores and coming to Kuwait to work as pimps. The caste Brahmin carry specific duties which the Brahmins in Kuwait are not performing and as such they cannot call themselves as Brahmins unless they are bastardised Brahmins. Every caste is classified as per its professions.
Regarding Christian Brahmins, I must tell here that for Christians to believe in caste system either as Brahmins or any other caste is like going against the principle of Christianity which preaches the principle of equality as propounded by Jesus Christ. Those Christians who carry the title of caste either high or low are committing a sacrilege against Christianity and as such they cannot be called as Christians. Caste system creates inequality in society while Christianity propagates equality. Good that for centuries India was colonised by Christian European powers that introduced Christian principle of equality in India otherwise the discriminatory Hindu system of castes would ruin India. The great Indian patriot Dr. Ambedkar was not a fool to renounce caste oriented Hinduism and embrace Bhuddism.The emancipation of low caste Hindus took better shape for their development only when they followed in millions the call of Dr. Ambedkar to renounce Hinduism and also when they embraced Christianity. The low caste Hindus by embracing Christianity in India attained greater social status which under the original caste based Hindu religion would never allow them.
Yet another Manager Mr. Fernandes from Colva was treating his staff working under him as slaves even denying them proper remuneration commensurate with their job output and many times telling his staff that whatever little salary he is prescribing them was big compared to what they would get in India. This bloody Fernandes was working as General Manager for pittance of salary compared to what he deserved like a beggar and what benefits such beggars will reccommend to their staff when they themselves are accepting beggards remunerations for them? A beggar will convert others into beggars only. This is the tradegy one will face while working under Indian Managers who base their remunerations and that of others working under them on the basis of living standard in India and not in Kuwait.
Still one more Goan, a top executive at KOC, a Christian Brahmin too from the same village as that of Almeida, Mr. Cordeiro by name, during those early days at KOC to satisfy his sadistic ego was advising his British superiors "not to give more facilities to Goan staff because in Goa they are accustomed to live miserably".
When we organised our movement in Goa in support of Kuwait, under Goa-Kuwait Solidarity Center, during the invasion of Kuwait, all the top employees, top executives, Managers and businessmen earlier enjoying luxirious life in Kuwait stayed away from our movement because they had no guts to mingle with others since they did nothing good for others, they only harassed people working under them. Instead of joining us in support of our movement for the cause of invaded Kuwait they were hiding under the petticoats of their wives even though they had more obligation to join our movement because they enjoyed better benefits of Kuwait's employment. Secondly being money crazy, they found this movement useless fetching them nothing since as per their calculation invaded Kuwait was the gone case. Fighting and working for the cause of Kuwait during the invasion of Kuwait was the work of "Muskins" like me.
As a matter of interest, during the invasion of Kuwait many places in India besides Goa, organised actitivites in support of Kuwait but to my knowledge, none of the top executives and managers took active interest in these activities. To initiate such mighty movements of mighty magnitudes is not the especiality of these rascal Indians but to harass others and disgrace the image of Indians in Kuwait is their forte. Many Kuwaitis after seeing photo albums and Video Cassettes of our movement in Goa during the invasion of Kuwait asked me why so many well known Goans holding top positions in Kuwait before the invasion of Kuwait are missing in our movement? For this I replied saying "they are crooks, ungrateful and unfaithful to Kuwait and what Kuwait has given to them. For them Kuwait is necessary only to make money. And this refers to most of other such Indians from other parts of India". Currently you see many Indians holding top positions in top Kuwait's companies but if I ask them what was their contribution for the promotion of Kuwait's cause during the invasion of Kuwait, what will be their answer? Negative because they are not interested in Kuwait's security. During the invasion of Kuwait they were not sucking the breast of their mothers but were matured and grown up to think what is good and what is bad. These people are interested only in amassing wealth even by adoring Saddam Hussein if it helps them to accumulate more wealth.
After the liberation of Kuwait, I was one of the former employees recalled by my company. To commemorate the first anniversary of the invasion of Kuwait and to raise the issue of Kuwait's Prisoners of War (POW), I on behalf of Goa-Kuwait Solidarity Center with the association and participation of top Kuwaitis announced a meeting at Hotel Plaza Ballroom. Immediately I was called by a group of Indians gathered at Indian Embassy where I was asked to surrender the right of G-KSC to hold this meet and instead to organise this meet in the name of all Indians in Kuwait. For this I replied saying "since all Kuwait Indians have not done what we Goans have done in Goa for the cause of Kuwait, I refuse to oblige you". Then I asked them thus, "what was your contribution towards this cause during the invasion of Kuwait when you too were in India as Kuwait evacuees?". They had no answer. Even most of those top Indians who are now earning thousands of Kuwaiti Dinars were doing nothing in India to raise the banner of Kuwait during the invasion of Kuwait. All the top Kuwaitis engaging top Indians in their organisations must ponder over the faithfulness of these Indians working for them towards Kuwait. These top Indians are not faithful to Kuwait, they are only interested in Kuwaiti Dinars and in looting Kuwait by harassing others. When we were organising our annual meetings in support of the release of Kuwait's POW's invitations was open for every Indian but to my regret all the top names of Indians working in Kuwait never associated with us in our campaign. I personally went from Kuwait to Delhi to campaign in support of this issue yet none of the top Indians working in Kuwait and earning thousands of Dinars bothered to enquire about this with me. These top Indians are least interested in Kuwait. They are so ungrateful to Kuwait if necessary to save their pockets they will even salute the dead Saddam Hussein. In fact I am as a supporter of Kuwait ashamed of all these top Indians in Kuwait.
While concluding I can rightly say that my enemy is within me only. Yet, I will go on propagating my views and will expose those who harass others thereby creating bad image of Kuwait. Kuwaitis owning their companies are not bad but it is their managers, their top executives and those who are running their administrations are bad and Indians are the worst. And the companies run by Indian management are doubly worst. Many of my friends working in companies under Indian administrations are suffering too much. I pity them. Normally any company in Kuwait administered by Indian Management you will see there nothing but discrimination and harassment, partiality and step motherly treatment against those staff who do not belong to their clan in region, culture, religion, language, caste and social standing. Indian Managers generally speaking are discriminatory and bias in their attitude towards other Indians. For this reason many times it is a curse to work under Indian Managers and Indian Management.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
The function was well coordinated by compere and CUC member Tony Viegas with DJ Mario providing music for the taste.
:::About Alexander Fernandes:::
The newly Executive Committee of Colva United Centre for the year 2009~2010: