__init__() not called automatically

[Sriek]

hi,
i come from a c++ background. i ws happy to find myself on quite
familiar grounds with Python. But, what surprised me was the fact that
the __init__(), which is said to be the equivlent of the constructor in
c++, is not automatically called. I'm sure there must be ample reason
for this. I would like to know why this is so? This is my view is more
burden on the programmer.
Similarly, why do we have to explicitly use the 'self' keyword
everytime?

Every kind of help would be welcome.