I was brought up in the family with the strong belief that loyalty is a virtue. I believed it and saw it being practised around my family members and in the communities I lived.
Then when I started my career in a public sector undertaking, my role model was my father , who served the central government for almost four decades in his career. It was considered inappropriate even to think of leaving a government or public sector job , primarily driven by job security which people believed ,the private sector would never offer.
Even in the community around me, loyalty was considered a virtue. This could be seen in family run businesses and even in kirana shops and vegetable vendors and so on. Loyalty was not only a virtue but was rewarded and recognised by organisations.
I remember we used to get a special award on completing 25 years in the organisation and all of us looked forward to it. After serving the public sector for 14 years I moved to the private sector and then worked for multinationals. The silver jubilee award almost became extinct and was replaced by 5, 10, 15 years awards and so on. Nowadays, employees get rewarded for serving for one full year in a organisation and the anniversaries are celebrated.
This transformation in employee loyalty ,has reflected in the social fabric of the community as well. Marriage as an institution is breaking down and may soon become obsolete. While I do agree that in the past couples coexisted in marriage , more for the sake of their children or others ,even if they did not get along well, divorce is no longer a taboo.
I have the habit of attending any employee marriage in a city I lived, if I was invited to it. Unfortunately in the last decade, one in every three marriages I have attended ,have not survived. I do not want to blame anyone for this. However, it is a fact that loyalty is no longer a virtue, in marriage as an institution too.
I am for couples to voluntarily separate and re marry if they find themselves incompatible for whatever reasons. It was sad to see couples under one roof, even though they could not see each other’s face every day , in the past. But not to believe in marriage as an institution ,may be the evolution of the next century.
If children are not loyal to their parents, it is time to realise that family as an institution is also transforming. It is normal for children even in India today to let their parents stay in old age homes and they are comfortable financing it rather than taking care of them.
While the rest of the world is learning yoga and other Indian traditions of the past, we are learning to redefine our social institutions like marriage and family from the west. It may be time for a churn ,since life is after all a full circle and we will begin all over again.
My belief is that “Loyalty is no longer a virtue in family, society or organisations. It is time to sit back and reflect on the same and move forward to the society of tomorrow.
May be time to redefine the word “Loyalty” itself ?
S Ramesh Shankar
20th April’s 2022
Hrishti - S Ramesh Shankar 
Yes, Ramesh, what you have stated is true and happening today. In a way, you may say, society is transforming or may be, evolving. Values are changing. We, as a person, are becoming ungrateful – to our parents, to our organization, to our society and even to our country. These are signs of degeneration of our character, our values and our culture. If I don’t take care of my parents in their old age and maltreat them, who had dedicated their whole life and comforts for my upbringing and for making me for whatever worth I am of today, my children will emulate me and will do the same with me in my old age. This is the worst thing to happen in an educated family. Our parents taught us good values to make us good human beings. I used to serve my grandparents with total dedication (more than my own parents). Similarly, my children served my parents with total dedication, because this is what they observed in the family and this is what they were taught. How can we become so ungrateful, that too to our parents or grandparents, and to an organization, where I served and earned my bread and butter for my family. For me it is unthinkable. It is ungratefulness.
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