Thursday, September 2, 2010

Gafur ka dost

Any Malayali worth the name will remember the snip from the movie- Naadodikattu. It comically brings out the scams that go on in the name of recruiting for overseas jobs. Lured into the net with dreams of a wealthy tomorrow, the hit duo Mohanlal-Sreenivasan, give Gafur, the agent whatever money they could manage for a ride on boat to gulf as they have no VISA. And they are fooled by the agent who tells them to hop off after an overnite ride to Chennai. He gives them a pair of Arab dress, teaches them some useful Arabic like Salaam Valaikum, Valaikum usalaam and tells them to blurt out Gafur ka dost if some one asks more.

Kerala is full of such agents. You get ‘Gafur ka dost’ for any job to be done- some take you for a ride while others deliver. It is really a difficult job to differentiate one from another. Maybe Kerala has the maximum no. of agents who provide gas connection, rail or air tickets, Visa help, school/college admissions, real estate, housemaid, home nurse, babysitter, painter, plumber, electrician, taxis, bystander at hospital if you have none in the family to do the service, beautiful well dressed girls to pose as bride’s friends and add glamour to a wedding and on goes the list. And the public is kind of wary but still uses these invaluable services, sometimes in the process losing all their valuables.

In this scenario, the simple Good Samaritan who tries to extend help to fellow beings in whatever way possible is gauged differently. The absolute free services don’t carry the same weight as paid service. So, the person you are trying to help either looks at other avenues or runs out of patience and rarely is able to receive a help well delivered.

Things have come to a pass where we find difficult to believe a person through and through. “Nothing comes for FREE” – is it getting a bit too much into our heads? Or are we losing patience working on computers as in “Hey, this page is taking forever to load, let’s try other options?”

27 comments:

  1. It's the chicken and egg syndrome. You are so used to acts of kindness being paid for that kind acts are looked upon with suspicion. But, I hope that the attitude does not deter any person from doing their kind deed.

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  2. i saw the tamil version where pandiarajan goes to kochi..
    sad but we believe free lunch is available only in mousetraps but forget that people give free meals from the goodness of the hearts too.

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  3. Hmm yeah well what to say , these days hard to find out who is genuine and who is not .. It all is what you have experienced i guess , if you get good you think they are good otherwise not ..

    but from my experience I would definitely say nothing is for FREE ...

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  4. Quite often when one offers help voluntarily ,people look askance at him suspecting ulterior motive.There is so much of deceit all around, people do not expect fairplay.When at the end of my journey, the auto driver accepts the amount on the meter without demur ,I suspect the meter is rigged even if the fare is reasonable.

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  5. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest".( quote of Adam Smith)
    I wonder if we can find a relationship in the present world that is not so. If we can we must consider ourself very fortunate.
    And as you noted "Gafoor ka dosth" is an immortal piece in Malayalam cinema.

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  6. Well said. We are very skeptical folks now a days. Trust doesn't come easily to us and everybody is put under a scanner!!

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  7. Trust doesn't come easily and yes, everything is dissected nowadays. Justice will not prevail unless the honest are lived to honestly and the system undergoes a change.

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  8. I have seen the Tamil remake where these guys are dropped off in Cochin.

    Thats a serious thought. If anything comes for free, we are suspicious. There should be some trap, why else would someone come out of the way to help!! Thats the situation and its sad.

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  9. Girls to pose as bride's friends in wedding? Are you kidding me? I'd never heard of such a thing before.
    Rest of the things happen everywhere, I suppose.

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  10. Youre right even genuine ppl get tagged as fake in this day and age..but I guess our society has conditioned us in such a way...

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  11. Rachna
    Yes we should not be deterred from doing good deeds.

    wise donkey
    A sad condition:(

    Bikramjit
    May you be blessed with a FREE good turn:)

    K Parthasarathi
    Now that's the height of suspicion

    Anil Kurup
    Adam Smith is for economics. This is about day to day life.

    Shilpa Garg
    I think it is like a cycle- first you trust as a kid, then you are skeptic in youth, by middle age you want to tust again and by old age fear overrides the need to trust.

    Akshay
    True. Until we see honesty thrive, we tend to be dishonest and then view others to be same

    Insignia
    A degree of caution is ok but losing the ability to trust a fellow human is really our shortcoming

    Karthik
    Yep. The local girls college always has this pocket money option.

    A new Beginning
    Hope we see the well meaning in good light.

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  12. How can we forget "Gaffur ka dost" - a classic movie (though the movie title didn't register)you can afford to watch a million times and not tire of it.

    I usually tend to trust people easily, but I have become skeptical too with the kind of deception in present day!

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  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  15. Dear Friend
    It is economics that is at play in daily life. Sit back and observe , also think.

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  16. I tend to trust people easily, I get cheated and taken for a ride, and yet I cant stop trusting..but thats not the end..I keep droning to my kids, dont trust everybody you meet, dont trust everybody you meet!! My husband says they are going to end up like you just to prove you wrong!!

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  17. Very difficult to trust anyone these days. Gafur ka dosts are to be handled with care!

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  18. RGB
    It seems 8 is the most straight kinds these days, can't believe people.

    Anil Kurup
    You seem not to be sure how to convince me that the world is too materialistic:)

    Sujata
    There, we are making the kids too unsure about the world, insinuating them with dread to trust:(

    Destiny's child
    Or the shards of glass bite into flesh. Very sad condition

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  19. I tend to trust people and when I come to know how I've been cheated, I feel depressed for days.
    There are Gafur ka dosts every where in India. But I feel, if I do not trust another human being, who do I trust?

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  20. @The Holy Lama,
    Oh no I made a statement that economics is not confined to Economists but it is more of sociological matter in the present world.And as you commented rightly so,nothing comes free, and if it does, one has to see with a different perception.
    The world has always been materialistic and Mr Adam Smith reminded that in his statement. That nothing comes free out of love.

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  21. It is sad but true..people trust evbrything thats expensive.

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  22. "beautiful well dressed girls to pose as bride’s friends and add glamour to a wedding" --- I didn't know that!

    Yes... 'it is so true that 'there is no free lunch!!'

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  23. Aparna

    precisely. Whom else do we trust?

    Bikramjit
    Thank you.

    Anil kurup
    Adam Smith zindabad

    Samvedna
    Trust needs Rs.

    $$
    Get to know the world:)

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  24. its sad that we cant trust people. but I feel the good samaritans must not give up. well I just hope they dont :)

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  25. so true... regarding the last couple of comments.. honestly, under such circumstances as the ones we live in right now, how can you blame them for not giving up... very rarely are their good deeds acknowledged while 'the bad guys' can steal 1.7lakh crore and just say 'i did nothing wrong' and walk away

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