The two incidents really vexed my heart. If you are one of those who cannot stand a description of human vex and frailties, please read no more.
Just about couple of hours back, I was listening to an autorickshaw driver describing an incident he experience today. He was engaged to take a woman and a ‘wet grinder’ to a shop. He asked for Rs. 70/-(~$1.5) as fare but the woman confessed that she had only Rs. 50/- (~$1) with her. He acquiesced and transported her with the grinder to the agreed shop, to find that the shop was closed.
Seems that she then requested the rick driver to go to he nearest ‘kabadi wala’ (junk dealer – kayalan kadai in Tamil). It appears that the woman wanted to dispose off the wet grinder for her (family) needs. The auto driver talked sense to her, saying that she would get hardly a ‘cent-on-the-dollar’ for the grinder at this time (night), but to hold on and sell it off tomorrow, for a better price.
Then he took her home. She attempted to give him the agreed fare (one way) Rs. 50 saying that even though he deserves a two-way fare, she can afford only one. Moved, he refused the fare and came away.
As he was relating this, we both noticed that a car approached the apartment complex in front of where we were. The watchman/sentry of the apartment, it seems, had been busy engaged in apartment work (checking the water level on overhead tanks) at that time.
The driver of the car, who happened to be a flat owner in that apartment complex, then did a very strange thing.
Since the gate to the complex was only partially open and a car cannot drive through, he kept honking the horn for a couple of minutes. Irritated at the non-responsiveness of an otherwise engaged watchman, the worthy got out and leaving the car with parking lights on, went in search of the watchman.
It took him about 10 minutes to locate the watchman and bring him to the gate. Then he made the watchman to open the gates and drove the car through.
For both of us watching the scene, it was a momentous.
Just about half an hour before, the auto driver had witnessed poverty and moved, acted in a humane manner.
And here we have a man’s pride and ego in full display.
The driver could have taken 3 steps to shove open the gate and drive the car through. Instead, he opted to search for the watchman for the better part of ten minutes, just to satisfy his ego – simply because he was driving a Rs. 300,000 (~$ 6700) car.
And the PM keeps talking about bringing down the food Inflation and sustaining 9% growth. The only growth I can see is in people flaunting wealth and what is going down is humaneness. No surprise, as this is the way the politicians act and do, as they have absolutely no idea of ‘ground’ realities. People who do not know what is happening to the ‘aam admi’ (common man) keep talking of him/her.
What is the use of an Indo-Japanese Nuclear Deal, if a woman, in the heart of the fastest growing metro in India, has to sell her wet grinder to feed her family – barely 10 days before Diwali?
Mr. PM, what are you going to do with the generated electricity with such deals ? – Do you want them to power 20 inch screen for day traders and their rave parties, while desperate home-makers sell their food processors to care for their families?
It just vexed my heart to see politicians so disconnected with ground realities. Even more vexing is seeing politicians sneer at Rahul Gandhi when he tries to understand such things. To me, he is worth a thousand PMs.
:-)
Just about couple of hours back, I was listening to an autorickshaw driver describing an incident he experience today. He was engaged to take a woman and a ‘wet grinder’ to a shop. He asked for Rs. 70/-(~$1.5) as fare but the woman confessed that she had only Rs. 50/- (~$1) with her. He acquiesced and transported her with the grinder to the agreed shop, to find that the shop was closed.
Seems that she then requested the rick driver to go to he nearest ‘kabadi wala’ (junk dealer – kayalan kadai in Tamil). It appears that the woman wanted to dispose off the wet grinder for her (family) needs. The auto driver talked sense to her, saying that she would get hardly a ‘cent-on-the-dollar’ for the grinder at this time (night), but to hold on and sell it off tomorrow, for a better price.
Then he took her home. She attempted to give him the agreed fare (one way) Rs. 50 saying that even though he deserves a two-way fare, she can afford only one. Moved, he refused the fare and came away.
As he was relating this, we both noticed that a car approached the apartment complex in front of where we were. The watchman/sentry of the apartment, it seems, had been busy engaged in apartment work (checking the water level on overhead tanks) at that time.
The driver of the car, who happened to be a flat owner in that apartment complex, then did a very strange thing.
Since the gate to the complex was only partially open and a car cannot drive through, he kept honking the horn for a couple of minutes. Irritated at the non-responsiveness of an otherwise engaged watchman, the worthy got out and leaving the car with parking lights on, went in search of the watchman.
It took him about 10 minutes to locate the watchman and bring him to the gate. Then he made the watchman to open the gates and drove the car through.
For both of us watching the scene, it was a momentous.
Just about half an hour before, the auto driver had witnessed poverty and moved, acted in a humane manner.
And here we have a man’s pride and ego in full display.
The driver could have taken 3 steps to shove open the gate and drive the car through. Instead, he opted to search for the watchman for the better part of ten minutes, just to satisfy his ego – simply because he was driving a Rs. 300,000 (~$ 6700) car.
And the PM keeps talking about bringing down the food Inflation and sustaining 9% growth. The only growth I can see is in people flaunting wealth and what is going down is humaneness. No surprise, as this is the way the politicians act and do, as they have absolutely no idea of ‘ground’ realities. People who do not know what is happening to the ‘aam admi’ (common man) keep talking of him/her.
What is the use of an Indo-Japanese Nuclear Deal, if a woman, in the heart of the fastest growing metro in India, has to sell her wet grinder to feed her family – barely 10 days before Diwali?
Mr. PM, what are you going to do with the generated electricity with such deals ? – Do you want them to power 20 inch screen for day traders and their rave parties, while desperate home-makers sell their food processors to care for their families?
It just vexed my heart to see politicians so disconnected with ground realities. Even more vexing is seeing politicians sneer at Rahul Gandhi when he tries to understand such things. To me, he is worth a thousand PMs.
:-)
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