Peering at the world through a straw : Part I
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
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It is often proclaimed that poverty and charity go hand in hand. Even
today, when materialism has taken precedence over emotions, one may find it
difficult to dispute the fact that virtues like compassion and benevolence
still have the same charismatic effect in bridging the divide between the haves
and the have-nots.
This is the story of a peddler who used to sell handkerchief at traffic
junctions and a gentleman whose conscience was stirred to utterance after his
encounter with the peddler.
13 May, 2012: It was a hot dusty afternoon. The sun was shining
brightly, making it difficult to withstand the scorching heat. To aggravate
tension in the air, there was a massive traffic jam. Even snails would have
crept faster. The culprit for this commotion was a bulldozer that had broken
down at a major traffic junction. As the traffic became more and more
unmanageable, some young men stepped out of their vehicles, gesticulating
wildly at the traffic, rushing from all ends, trying their best to break the
snarl. The sight of enraged people wrangling on road and abusing each other was
only adding fuel to the fire.
Knock…knock…, a peddler knocked
at the glass of a luxury car.
“Handkerchief…buy 4 pieces for
Rs. 20 only”, he begged as the glass rolled down.
As usual, he was greeted with a
grimace. The ‘gentleman’ inside the car didn’t even pretend to scrounge for
change. Instead, he rebuked the peddler and increased the volume of the
monotonous song that was being played inside his car. The peddler didn’t feel
dejected. It was his business after all and to make his both ends meet, he
could get himself reprimanded any number of times throughout the day. Even
after being chided, he had the audacity to knock at the glass of the same
vehicle again.
“Please purchase these
handkerchief sir. They will protect you from this hostile weather”, he pleaded
with folded hands.
“#$%@#!^&*...(invectives
used). Get lost from here before I gag you with these handkerchief”, the
‘gentleman’ abused bitterly.
How pathetic a profession can
be! Exposing oneself to public scorn every other minute…Gruesome!
The peddler, a downtrodden
young lad did feel sad, however, he had no other alternative than to curse his
destiny for his miserable plight, but still had a reason to cheer upon
realisation of the fact that he was still in a better condition than many of
his lineage who would indulge in undignified activities like manual scavenging,
arduous labouring as cattle among cattle in the fields etc.
After hours of crawling, the
luxury car and its owner finally crossed the junction and diffused among the
ever increasing traffic. The peddler stood along the divider looking for more
customers while the weather showed no improvement, with the sun showering its
wrath all through the day.
“I should have purchased the
handkerchief”, the gentleman muttered to himself while driving towards his
destination, “after all he was a poor chap”, he continued.
One may feel tempted to think
that the man was pricked by his inner conscience, unlike what he uttered next.
“Shedding a few pennies over
these destitute is not going to wriggle them out of their impoverished
conditions”, he told himself as he felt amused at his wisdom.
He may seem to be appropriate
to some extent but if each one of us starts thinking in this manner, the day is
not far when humanity would be stripped off virtues like love, compassion,
benevolence, generosity et cetera. Any such thought that inculcates a feeling
of hatred in oneself is as despicable as betraying one’s own conscience. One
must shun such outrageous thoughts at the very grass root levels.
One may appreciate the efforts
of the government and various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who are
trying their best to uplift the lower strata of the society but corruption is
plaguing our society so badly that these schemes and donations seldom reach the
actual beneficiaries. The outcome is that the chasm between the haves and the
have-nots is widening and the condition of the latter is deteriorating from bad
to worse. Consequently, though they have their names enrolled in the electoral
lists, they have no access to the resources and are merely squatters.
The gentleman was in a state of
dilemma and was constantly being haunted by a feeling of guilt of not having
helped the poor.
Continue reading : Peering at the world through a straw : Part II
Categories:
common man,
corruption,
crime,
development,
discrimination,
dream,
emotions,
poverty
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