Today, we were shown a video on the lives of textile mill workers in Jarimari, Mumbai. You know it reminds me of the ‘Blood diamonds’ from Africa? I don’t mean to sound drastic… But the plight of those workers in the unorganized workers denied a permanent job and a fixed salary (imagine having workers who demand to be allowed to work… For how else will the meals for the day come? ) is heart-wrenching…
Now many mills are being closed. OK. And now they want to demolish the colony of their slum-like constructions to expand the Airport nearby. Many of them have spent their lives’ earning to put up that shelter.
Most of them live with the uncertainty of not knowing where the meal for the day… for themselves and their small children will come from.
To me, that redefines what is important. Somehow, my own strife takes on a new dimension…
They are like the unseen and quietly forgotten underside of a process that has long-since forgotten the morality of rewarding best the person who does the basic job. I have long-since felt that there is a wrongly diminished priority given to those people who clean and cook for us… For the services they provide are something so integral to us… Can we do without them? Nope…
I don’t think the answer is to make out Corporations that ‘function for profit’ as the sole cause of this inequality…
Now, I have an interesting thought that may give a fresh perspective to the lives of these workers. I have always felt that some of the best experiences in Life is to know yourself in your best possible ways… :) And I have also seen that toughest times bring out the steel in you… :) Hence, when I think of the brave men and women in Jarimari… Who I think actually embody the spirit of India, with a smile to give even though they do not know where the next meal will come from; and that resilient attitude which says that ‘there is a beauty even in the way I live Life’… and to sincerely believe that ‘tomorrow will be a better day!’ is a spirit that something that each of us to strive to find in ourselves each day. :)
They are able to know themselves survive in the worst of times… And see the strange inevitability of Life (I don’t know if that makes sense!) It’s a strange sort of cynicism that makes them go on… No matter what! To me, that seems like a very happy and fulfilling way to live. Yes, their limbs ache from the work they do at the construction… And they sometimes go without 3 meals a day…
Now we suffer from aching limbs when we jog after too long a gap. :)And sometimes find the need to diet. :)
To be honest, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this dichotomy… :)
There is actually little difference between us as humans. :) However, their needs are so basic… I think they have a much better understanding of what constitutes happiness than we in our more secure life… Personally I think it takes more to make me happy than the 3 meals a day… Im not sure if that’s the best way to live, either… :)
Look, they feel the love… They have the feeling of togetherness… While sometimes we can feel lonely in a crowd, am I right…?
Hence, when I stand back and take a look at the two worlds… Im confused…Certainly, they have much left wanting in basic, material needs… But they lead a life that is far richer in contentment… and honesty.
So remind me again… Who am I feeling so terrifying sorry for?
Rajeswari
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Children of a ‘Lesser God’…?
Feeling feverish… Guess the class on ‘Management beyond Profit’ can be injurious to health… ! :D Oh Gosh… I can’t believe Im starting this blog with a joke… :)
For the record, I was feeling ill starting morning… :)
Today we watched a documentary on the initiative of Inderjit Khurana- the social entrepreneur. She took the school to the children of the railway platform… For they would not….Go to a school elsewhere from where they live (The Railway Station).
She is saving these children from the dangers they are faced with… Death, disease, prostitution or suicide…
Im sorry Im being so hard-hitting in choice of words… However, reality is best stated as it is to make an impression…
A whole multitude of thoughts ran into my mind at that point…. A terrifying feeling of my heart falling into my shoes… :) The usual desperation that comes when faced with such harsh realities, which gives rise to questions like ‘Why is this… How is this… Why is it still existing if there are initiatives like this and.. Banyan running…?’
I have always seen the destitute and homeless, and as the Professor rightly pointed out, we try not to see… (probably because we are afraid of what feeling it will spawn) And shut it up in a closet so we don’t think about it… :) I was no exception. I used to feel a pang then… at the dichotomy in life… :) I still do. Its sharpened, after that class.
The most terrifying feeling has to be… That everything else we do… all the things bother us… Seems to fall away in the face of this terrible reality these children face… of Gangsters, drugs and prostitution…
For the first two questions… I still have no answer… It is like another wise Professor said… ‘It simply is. Accept it. Without getting emotional’. :) Then lets think about what to do about it.
Perhaps this is only the beginning of an awakening. For there are still, some (what I feel) are pretty basic structural issues, and perhaps, moral issues (though they will seem utopian, from my point of view as a fresh management graduate… But then, Im thankful Im not cynical enough to fail to pose these questions/ suggestions)
Here are some points I can’t seem to get out of my head:
What the hell is the government doing? I do not accept comments like ‘magnitude’ or ‘complexity’ or ‘resources’.
If there can be trade of non-existent securites for a later date (called a ‘Future’ in those mad stock markets), which is regularly monitored by SEBI and the Fin Min, then the HRD Ministry can do just as well with a hitching up of pants and perhaps a resounding reality check. I feel destitute children are more important than FII Regulations. Period.
Yes, Im naive… Being like the young Alejandro in the movie the ‘Mask of Zorro’ when he rushes at his Master in a fit of anger only to be disabled of his sword within seconds.
Im talking of a huge system… And a huge complex web when I say… ‘Lets do a mass campaign… Hands-on… And rescue these children… Or lets dig into the treasury of cash-rich Institutions and use it for the midday meal scheme of these children…Or Lets not admit any company to earn more than a certain monetary amount of profit without parting with a percentage toward Charity… (Read: Not as taxes)
:) Im guessing emotion… Is only the first step in this realm of social activism.
My point here is… All that progress seems awasted to me for if our basics are not right… Its almost like saying ‘So what if you’re hungry, you’re living in a golden palace..!’
And that’s where Im headed. J That is almost like a death sentence. Death of feeling, and sensitivity. :)
Perhaps I can make a difference with this awakening. :) Maybe that’s what this course will teach me… First, help me gain an understanding of the problem. The ‘root cause’… And then…What to do, and how to do..
Now I can understand why a Mr. Nachiket of ICICI or Mohd. Yunus… This is the sort of thing that can make you not sleep at night, if you don’t appreciate and resolve to do something about it. :)
I think I also understand the phrase ‘Children of a lesser God’… Only too well.
There’s this other interesting thought that might help me make peace with this dichotomy… (It may sound egoistic and presumptuous, but perhaps… It is borne of the place I am in life and perhaps not a manifestation of my moral reasoning)
I have noticed that many of the people who take up these causes are people who ‘have’… and realise the implications of ‘not having’ …. Its called ‘having the heart’ …So perhaps instead of treating as a cruel joke that we have much, while others do not… I shall take it as an opportunity, to live… knowing of the other side… And to be aware at all times, that the power is in my hands to do something for them… The children,.. not only children, but men and women of a lesser God… :)
For the record, I was feeling ill starting morning… :)
Today we watched a documentary on the initiative of Inderjit Khurana- the social entrepreneur. She took the school to the children of the railway platform… For they would not….Go to a school elsewhere from where they live (The Railway Station).
She is saving these children from the dangers they are faced with… Death, disease, prostitution or suicide…
Im sorry Im being so hard-hitting in choice of words… However, reality is best stated as it is to make an impression…
A whole multitude of thoughts ran into my mind at that point…. A terrifying feeling of my heart falling into my shoes… :) The usual desperation that comes when faced with such harsh realities, which gives rise to questions like ‘Why is this… How is this… Why is it still existing if there are initiatives like this and.. Banyan running…?’
I have always seen the destitute and homeless, and as the Professor rightly pointed out, we try not to see… (probably because we are afraid of what feeling it will spawn) And shut it up in a closet so we don’t think about it… :) I was no exception. I used to feel a pang then… at the dichotomy in life… :) I still do. Its sharpened, after that class.
The most terrifying feeling has to be… That everything else we do… all the things bother us… Seems to fall away in the face of this terrible reality these children face… of Gangsters, drugs and prostitution…
For the first two questions… I still have no answer… It is like another wise Professor said… ‘It simply is. Accept it. Without getting emotional’. :) Then lets think about what to do about it.
Perhaps this is only the beginning of an awakening. For there are still, some (what I feel) are pretty basic structural issues, and perhaps, moral issues (though they will seem utopian, from my point of view as a fresh management graduate… But then, Im thankful Im not cynical enough to fail to pose these questions/ suggestions)
Here are some points I can’t seem to get out of my head:
What the hell is the government doing? I do not accept comments like ‘magnitude’ or ‘complexity’ or ‘resources’.
If there can be trade of non-existent securites for a later date (called a ‘Future’ in those mad stock markets), which is regularly monitored by SEBI and the Fin Min, then the HRD Ministry can do just as well with a hitching up of pants and perhaps a resounding reality check. I feel destitute children are more important than FII Regulations. Period.
Yes, Im naive… Being like the young Alejandro in the movie the ‘Mask of Zorro’ when he rushes at his Master in a fit of anger only to be disabled of his sword within seconds.
Im talking of a huge system… And a huge complex web when I say… ‘Lets do a mass campaign… Hands-on… And rescue these children… Or lets dig into the treasury of cash-rich Institutions and use it for the midday meal scheme of these children…Or Lets not admit any company to earn more than a certain monetary amount of profit without parting with a percentage toward Charity… (Read: Not as taxes)
:) Im guessing emotion… Is only the first step in this realm of social activism.
My point here is… All that progress seems awasted to me for if our basics are not right… Its almost like saying ‘So what if you’re hungry, you’re living in a golden palace..!’
And that’s where Im headed. J That is almost like a death sentence. Death of feeling, and sensitivity. :)
Perhaps I can make a difference with this awakening. :) Maybe that’s what this course will teach me… First, help me gain an understanding of the problem. The ‘root cause’… And then…What to do, and how to do..
Now I can understand why a Mr. Nachiket of ICICI or Mohd. Yunus… This is the sort of thing that can make you not sleep at night, if you don’t appreciate and resolve to do something about it. :)
I think I also understand the phrase ‘Children of a lesser God’… Only too well.
There’s this other interesting thought that might help me make peace with this dichotomy… (It may sound egoistic and presumptuous, but perhaps… It is borne of the place I am in life and perhaps not a manifestation of my moral reasoning)
I have noticed that many of the people who take up these causes are people who ‘have’… and realise the implications of ‘not having’ …. Its called ‘having the heart’ …So perhaps instead of treating as a cruel joke that we have much, while others do not… I shall take it as an opportunity, to live… knowing of the other side… And to be aware at all times, that the power is in my hands to do something for them… The children,.. not only children, but men and women of a lesser God… :)
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