Pinch of the Purse

As I awaited my turn at the dental clinic, I could see before me a simple-looking gentleman, turning the pages of a sophisticated magazine ‘People’, and from the way he was turning the pages, it was quite obvious that he didn’t know how to read English. After a little while, it was his turn, and the dentist did a quick check on his teeth, and told him that one of his teeth needs to be extracted, and the gentleman asked her quite casually how much it would cost, and she replied in a matter of fact tone, rupees twelve hundred. Probably the amount was far beyond his imagination, and he asked her if it could be less, and the young lady dentist retorted that she could not reduce the amount, since the extraction involved a lot of work.

But the man could not take her words as final, and went on arguing with her that the amount was far too much for him to bear, since he was poor. The dentist would not listen to his pleas: ‘If you want to get it done, you are welcome’. She was obviously getting annoyed with him, but looking at the situation, I felt sad for this gentleman. She had prescribed some antibiotics to be taken three days before he wishes the extraction to be done. He had given her hints that he had to first of all collect the money, then only could he visit the clinic. This gentleman might be earning some three thousand rupees per month, and if he has to cough out one third of his livelihood to pull out a tooth is too much for him.

The same is true for most of the people around us, and I most often take it for granted that most people around me cannot afford to avail the sophisticated clinical facilities, and super speciality health care facilities available today. It seldom occurs me to bargain the rates when I feel that I am being charged far more than the just charges; I take it for granted that the charges, especially consultation fees with physicians, are non-negotiable. The fact is there are very few physicians and health care assistants, who decide to demand only a just fees from the patients; human greed knows no bounds, and if the doctors don’t have any shame to demand as much as they want, why can’t I tell them how much I can really pay.

In a cultured society such as ours (was there ever an uncultured society in the world?), to bargain is considered a mean job; gentlemen and ladies of decent origin are not expected to bargain, however high the charges are; it is considered impolite among the affluent, and that is the reason why some of the sophisticated shops and eateries would not mind putting the prices of things ten times more, and would be sure that no one would challenge the price. But to bargain and pay only what is due is the birth right of not only every poor, but also of every individual. It is painful for those who had to sweat out to earn a living, to pour out the fruits of their sweat and blood in the hands of some greedy men and women.

When I accompany some of my friends for shopping or some purchase, I feel it annoying if they do not even make an effort to bargain the prices, at least wherever it is possible. There are many who do not mind paying whatever they are asked, because we have not earned the money, or that someone else had laboured to earn the money. Our purses do not pinch us, and unfortunately most of the people around us have a hole in their pockets, and money does not stay with them. I would like to see my purse always pinching me, because that is how I can truly stand in the company of the millions of other men and women around me, and experience solidarity with them.

Immortal Missioners

At first glance, this priest may look like a clown, and so his words, but no one can deny that he has great admiration for a late priest, who died on his lap, some 22 years ago, and today he goes around talking about the sanctity of this senior priest, who died of food poisoning at the age of 73. The senior priest was a Jesuit, and he was a pioneer in a remote underdeveloped area of the state, and he was known as a great savior in the area, because he doled out a lot of money to help the otherwise unemployed men and women of the area. He was popular, some say, not because of his goodness and sanctity, but because of his money.

This is one of the major complaints about missionaries, that they made the natives beggars; with all good intentions, they brought money from their nations, and helped people to live a dignified life; but unfortunately it was the more influential and powerful who made use of this foreign money to make the best out of the innocent missionaries. Most often the locals had great regard for the missionaries who doled out a lot of money for them, provided free education for their children, and gave money to them whenever they asked for, and never refused to feed them when they were hungry, and even gave money for their health bills. There are many missionaries, who with all their simplicity, made the local people mere recipients of their generosity.

Today if many of the local priests are having problem with the people, it is because the latter are not in a position to dole out money; many of the facilities, most of them free, provided by the missionaries are to be paid for today, and the people who are used to free services, find something fishy in the administration of the local clergy, who struggle to run the schools and boardings with deficit each month. But the people may not buy their arguments. If the foreign missionaries could do, so can you too, is their arguments. Therefore no wonder that the local people often would prefer a foreign missionary to a local one, and this situation may continue until the locals understand the inner operations.

It is not difficult to win the hearts of the people; many of the political parties in the country make use of money and muscle to win people. If one is able to dole out money, then one can win any number of people for you, and from the very next day people would flock to you, calling you as savior or guide and companion. Many of the people who have benefited out of the free services of missionaries, do acknowledge what they had received, and do join hands with the existing institutions to reach out to the needy people today. The old boys/girls associations therefore are means of great tradition, which can immortalize some memorable men and women.

In the modern times, I had noticed that not all people go after money and muscle. There are many, especially those from the interior countryside of the state, who go beyond these two, and try to look at people for what they are; in other words, these people look at the hearts of the people who come to them to serve. Authenticity and transparency are two great virtues that any one can easily see through; people who live a life which is contrary to what they preach, may soon lose even the few people they might have bought for a price. But the people who had great and large hearts for the people, may remain forever enshrined in their hearts.

'Greater Common Good'

The most important principle which is operative in corporate endeavors and production and service sectors is undoubtedly 'profit'. Everything is geared towards accruing greater profit. The people who had invested a lot of money wish to make more money, several times more than what they had invested. The 'business' people do not care for what happens to the rest of humanity, so long their purses are full. But the law of nature prescribes that every attempt to have 'profit' is bound to deprive some deserving person from his/her share of due wealth.

Unfortunately in most of the countries, the political leaders belong to the cream of the society, who have the least experience of the poverty, sweat and blood of the poor, who earn wealth for the nation. Depriving the voiceless masses is seen in almost all the nations, rich or poor. It happens in the South African countries, in the developing Third World countries, and in the developed nations too. The concerns of the poor and the majority most often do not appear in the national agenda; it is only the interests of the moneyed and muscled men and women who control the policies of development.

India had so many instances where the political bigwigs had been pushing so-called developmental projects (supposedly at the greater interests of the masses!), which deprived the poor farmers their ancestral lands, the water, forests, rivers, and the community. The fight for the holy river Narmada by Mehta Patkar and her Narmada Banchao Andolan is just the tip of an iceberg. There are projects which are aimed at displacing thousands of people, without proper rehabilitation and infrastructural facilities. Some years ago I had the privilege of witnessing what the people who would lose Narmada riverbed were going through.

Today the phrase 'greater common good' has become a mockery. One would hear this phrase repeated again and again at all political platforms, at every election campaigns, and it has become a cliche today. But then who cares? The people who sponsor the election campaigns and political meetings and rallies would have their pound of flesh by hook or by crook, and no one can stop them from doing it. The state machinery would in fact, stand by them to make sure that no one lays his/her hands on them. That is the state we have reached in the country.

In order to live a happy life, we do not need to worry about profits! Anyone who has the profit motive in business is bound to guided by greed and selfishness, which would lead him/her to take recourse to any social and moral evil, which may be justified before a court of law. I would like to consider for a while how I respond to the genuine yearnings of the people of the land. Am I able to feel their pain and agony; their tears and blood, and cry for their fundamental human rights. If the state denies these, then where could they take refuge?

Groping in the Dark

It was a festival of lights, and there were non-stop bursting of crackers all around, and the fireworks filled the firmament; the capital did not mind flushing out millions of rupees in order to keep the children feel the festival of lights in their ones. After all, they all said in unison, the people who make crackers and fireworks, need to make a living out of them, and they could afford to burst even after midnight. But from the window of the room where I had taken asylum for four days, I could see the bursts of a different type. And the noise of these ‘crackers’ was far more violent and louder than the ones which filled the already polluted sky.

These are the people who had no place of their own in this metropolis; the citizens of the mega city had a place for every conceivable amusement and enjoyment, but for the people who had been pushed outside the limits of human society, there is no place, where they could sleep in peace. They had managed to squeeze themselves in between two buildings, touching the wall of the building I stayed in. If there was a strong wind, then they may not find the roof of their hutments, and all they had would he gone within no time. Every moment for them is uncertain, but still life was going on. These are the people who burst their voices in the middle of the night, mingling their voices with those of the lifeless crackers.

The protagonist naturally was under the influence of alcohol, one day when the men make the best excuse to drink to their heart’s content, and the women who knew the logic of the men, would not force the bottles away. The young man did not bother to mind his language, it was as crude as he could be. There was another to counter his claims, and the counter claims of the friend were equally loud. It was not clear what they were shouting at, but one thing was sure, these people had no crackers or fireworks to amuse themselves with. Who knows if these people were bursting their empty stomachs, as they went to bed yet another night!

Then all of a sudden, out of the blue came a series of crackers bursting, almost for about a minute, and one of the my friends later said that they were sure to have burst about five thousand rupees worth crackers. Momentary happiness was what kept the people from the high society to flush their “hard” earned money. If all the money that had been spent on crackers and fireworks on the day of Diwali in the capital were to be augmented, it would have been enough to feed all those who were going hungry to bed from at least five states of the sub-continent.

Where can one find true happiness in a celebration as the festival of lights? Is it in the bursting of crackers and displaying the colorful array of fireworks, each one competing with others, or is it in something else! One thing for sure, more and more environmental conscious activists have recommended foregoing the bursting of crackers and amusements with fireworks, which can choke the already polluted air of the capital. I only wish if the nation as a whole decides to forego the colossal waste of crackers and fireworks, and instead find other positive ways of lighting up the lives of others! I wish all those who wanted to celebrate Diwali in a meaningful way could light up diya in the houses of the people who have nothing to eat, and share a meal and joy with them! If that is done, then it might not take too long to brighten up the whole nation.

Chasing the Wind

If there are two powers which govern our fate in the country, and the world at large, they are money and muscle. There is hardly any place for creativity, sincerity, honesty, genuineness, ingenuity, hard work... No one seems to care for these. But show a bundle of bills, you can get whatever you wish to; or just flex your muscle, and your work is done. Unfortunately this is the world we live in, and maybe this is the world we will die one day. Blessed are those who have either of these, for their lives are apparently secure, and their dreams may be realised at some time or other in their lives.

The fate of the nation is determined by who hold the reins of these two dominant powers in the society; in our country, unfortunately they are vested with politicians, who by no means can claim credibility. It is not the time to go back to the pages of history to see how we have given way to a corrupt form of governance, which is based on these two powers; rather it is for us to assume a greater role in the society, so that at least in the personal lives, we are not controlled and monitored by them.

I was joyed to read in the newspapers how two persons had reacted to politicians who tried to make hay while the sun shines - the father of slain National Security Guard Unnikrishnan, and the wife of the slain chief of NSG, Karkare. If each one of us who matter in the society were to keep the politicians at arms length, we would shape the world according to our dreams. Politicians are the people who do not know how to look beyond the tip of their noses, and such people can think of all reality only in terms of the vote-bank they crave for - for the vote bank is the seal of approval for making undue claim over money and muscle.

But let me not bemoan the fate of India, as regards the role of politicians in the life of a nation; the same is true of all developing nations. It is no different in Philippines, or Bangladesh. We have heard stories of how the Imelda Marcos had amassed national wealth in Philippines for herself and her posterity; if the bank accounts of all politicians were to be frozen, that would amount to a huge chunk of the national wealth, most of them ill-wrought. But what can we do about them. Unnikrishnan and Mrs Karkare have taught us something that we all can emulate - keep the politicians at arms length; don't let them come close to you. The famous adage is a constant reminder to all of us : no sincere person can survive in politics.

The fate of the nation is in the hands of the citizens, conscientious persons, who care for one another. If we can call the cards, then there is no place for the vile games of politicians. There is a greater power beyond that of the 2 m's that the politicians wield, the power that rules and governs the universe. Recognising the power of this supreme being flowing deep within us will give us the temptation to submit ourselves shamelessly to the powers of the world. Today my prayer therefore to the Lord of the Universe is : do not allow us to be tempted to the powers of the world.