Not in a Million Years

One summer vacation when I was very young (4^th or 5^th standard), my parents and I were visiting my grandma’s and that was the first time I came face to face with poverty.

A woman was at our door asking for food. She wore a white sari with red border ( I still remember). She was very thin and tall. My grandma gave her two hot rotis from our breakfast preparations

The woman started crying and sat down on the door way. She told my grandma she had not eaten for two days and was overwhelmed to see the warm food.

Although I don’t remember the entire conversation but I do recollect that the woman spent a long time talking with my grandma and narrating her plight.

Surprisingly after that I took it for granted that poverty was all around and so untidy children asking for alms at traffic signals, old people carrying back breaking load on hot summer days was a normal sight.

Somewhere down the line, I had stopped seeing this immense population of under privileged around me. I had become blind to the sorry plight of my country, where human conditions are truly third world. There is also an immense class difference and gap between the haves and the have nots.

After spending time abroad and not seeing this on a daily basis, I am suddenly at a loss to cope up with the surroundings after my return.

In the US, homeless people mostly choose to be homeless. There is far more opportunity to work, be it at the local McDonald store or even carrying goods for others.

But in India poverty is not a choice. It is inherited from family and from the surroundings.

Our maid Rajjo, has six children and her husband does not earn a dime. Before coming back to India, we had promised ourselves that we will not allow children below twenty to work in our home, and will also voice our opinions.

Two of Rajjo’s daughters aged fifteen and twelve work in other homes. When I tried to dissuade her from sending her children to work, she asked me how then would she be able to feed her family of eight people.

I did not have an answer to that.

My only satisfaction is the fact that her daughters are taken very good care of at the houses they service

The man who came to deliver our television set and microwave, drove a small cycle cart and carried these items on his shoulders to our third floor apartment.

I have never seen a person so happy after receiving a tiny tip. It made me feel unhappy and ashamed.

Unhappy because human conditions in India have not improved and ashamed because I was lucky and born into a family which did not keep me in want.

There is also a derogatory treatment made out to people who do not belong to a particular status. It is not okay to be rude to people who are already suffering.

Poor in India are made to experience humiliation everyday and mostly as an excuse for the incompetence of the rich.

So when I hear someone saying that India is the next superpower, I grit my teeth and say NOT in a million years.

We might have made advancements in many sectors but until we have food and clothing for everyone, we are far from being even a Developed Nation.

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