I am sitting patiently waiting my turn at the newly upgraded branch of a Public Sector bank in suburban Mumbai. It is like almost any other bank, there are the tellers, the counters, the people who look slightly fearful because they are afraid that one wrong signature or an error on some innocuous form might actually jeopardise their lives' savings, and finally there are the customary Ganesha and Lakshmi pictures in gaudy golden frames inside the Branch Manager's air-conditioned cabin. I almost don't take any notice of them till it strikes me that this branch must serve people who are not practicing Hindus! And that makes me wonder how they must feel about this open display of religion, this lack of secularism?
Ganesha is the God of good luck, the destroyer of all evil and obstacles, and Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and prosperity. So their presence at an institution of financial management would be very appropriate if it was not for the fact that this symbolism only works for a part of the bank's clientele. To give another example, I also know of a large Indian conglomerate that will not permit non-vegetarian food in its premises because the Chief Executive who was also the owner-promoter comes from a caste that does not eat meat. What is more, the company makes it mandatory for all its employees, irrespective of religious conviction, to attend a prayer meeting on Diwali to do the "muhurat Lakshmi pujan"- clearly a Hindu affair.
I am not sure if the Managers who put these pictures up or conduct this religious pooja really ever stop to consider what their actions mean. Perhaps they think it is appropriate because this is all second nature to them, this is what they personally believe in. The truth is, whether we like it or not, the personal creeps into our professional lives however hard we may try to keep the two apart. So you see, when we make tall claims of keeping our two lives separate, we ignore the fact that the person who walks through the doors of the office typing furiously on that BBM, is the same person who went to bed last night praying to his very personal deity that the next day may bring him professional success.
Ganesha is the God of good luck, the destroyer of all evil and obstacles, and Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and prosperity. So their presence at an institution of financial management would be very appropriate if it was not for the fact that this symbolism only works for a part of the bank's clientele. To give another example, I also know of a large Indian conglomerate that will not permit non-vegetarian food in its premises because the Chief Executive who was also the owner-promoter comes from a caste that does not eat meat. What is more, the company makes it mandatory for all its employees, irrespective of religious conviction, to attend a prayer meeting on Diwali to do the "muhurat Lakshmi pujan"- clearly a Hindu affair.
I am not sure if the Managers who put these pictures up or conduct this religious pooja really ever stop to consider what their actions mean. Perhaps they think it is appropriate because this is all second nature to them, this is what they personally believe in. The truth is, whether we like it or not, the personal creeps into our professional lives however hard we may try to keep the two apart. So you see, when we make tall claims of keeping our two lives separate, we ignore the fact that the person who walks through the doors of the office typing furiously on that BBM, is the same person who went to bed last night praying to his very personal deity that the next day may bring him professional success.
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