Tu tera dekh

Anyone who’s ever been to one of Mumbai’s (and indeed India’s) numerous filthy and grimy public toilets, will undoubtedly at some point or the other, have come across crudely etched graffiti. Amidst the incredibly poorly drawn sketches of breasts, vaginas and penises, are liberal uses of the word “fuck” and telephone numbers for people who can provide all sorts of sexual treats for all orientations.

Somewhere next to all that clutter, is a phrase usually seen etched above a line of urinals.

Tu tera dekh

Put very simply, the phrase translates to “look at your own”. Which, while being a wonderful little idiom to carry with one, also tells people to look into their own urinal and not let their eyes stray. Practical. But so what?

Being a Licorice All-Sorts journalist (i.e. one who doesn’t stick to just one beat), I find myself in the oddest of press conferences and only yesterday, did I attend one being taken by the US consul-general to celebrate Obama’s first 100 days in office. Aside from being another exercise in shameless self-promotion, why is this relevant?

The larger implications of our phrase for the day only entered my mind when certain relics of journalism (who probably believe the British Raj is still on) began asking the consul general about the US foreign policy on outsourcing. If I’m not entirely mistaken, he even asked loudly and in a shrill way, “Well, don’t you think it’s unfair that just to save US jobs, the government is causing so many jobs to be lost in places like Bangalore?”

Let’s examine this concept for a second. Unfair that your own Nation’s jobs are being saved for its citizens? When, in our own backyard, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the Shiv Sena talk about Maharashtra jobs for Maharashtrians, no one lets out a peep. But, they’re more than willing to be brash and claim American jobs as their birthright?

My advice to said relic is to look at whom you are (indirectly) pissing on — all the north Indians who would lose their jobs if Maharashtra only gave Maharashtrians jobs. Then look at what someone else is pissing on. In other words, Tu tera dekh and then look into the other urinal.