Earning it
What are you willing to do to earn 5 Rs ?
It seems such a trivial sum that people may not even consider what the big deal is.
What do you get for 5 now-a-days would be the first question.
Half a glass of tea ? A cigarette ? Parking for an hour ?
Chennai is such a hot and humid place that you sweat just sitting under the fan.
Forget bearing accessories like bags, your own clothes feel like a burden.
On one such sweltering day when travelling by a local I saw a blind person entrain.
He had a huge sack of books on one shoulder, and a walking stick in the other.
He must not have been older than 16 or 17.
Soon he settled in or to be exact found a small spot to unburden himself.
Fishing out a twobit book from his bag, he started explaining all the reasons why it is a must have.
For close to 10 minutes, he spoke non-stop about the great things and luck that book brings in.
I didn't understand all of what he said, except that the book was for 5 Rs.
Having elicited no buyers at the end of his speech, he waited in anticipation for a few more minutes.
He then moved to the other side of the compartment, going through the same rigmarole once again.
He really believed in all that was drilled into his head about the book.
There wasn't a trace of emotional blackmail or pleading in his voice.
Nothing other than wanting to earn 5 Rs honestly.
What about several others like the one selling safetypins and rubber bands in the subway?
The one with 10 pens for 5Rs, the kid minding the peanuts, the old woman with the rattles?
Probably I do nothing more compassionate than occassionally buying from them, but
I always wonder how many do they manage to sell in a day ? A week ? A month ?
How are they able to sustain themselves with such meagre amounts.
And the efforts for earning 5Rs, leaves me pondering the great imbalance in our lives.
One day, hopefully I can make a difference.
What are you willing to do to earn 5 Rs ?
It seems such a trivial sum that people may not even consider what the big deal is.
What do you get for 5 now-a-days would be the first question.
Half a glass of tea ? A cigarette ? Parking for an hour ?
Chennai is such a hot and humid place that you sweat just sitting under the fan.
Forget bearing accessories like bags, your own clothes feel like a burden.
On one such sweltering day when travelling by a local I saw a blind person entrain.
He had a huge sack of books on one shoulder, and a walking stick in the other.
He must not have been older than 16 or 17.
Soon he settled in or to be exact found a small spot to unburden himself.
Fishing out a twobit book from his bag, he started explaining all the reasons why it is a must have.
For close to 10 minutes, he spoke non-stop about the great things and luck that book brings in.
I didn't understand all of what he said, except that the book was for 5 Rs.
Having elicited no buyers at the end of his speech, he waited in anticipation for a few more minutes.
He then moved to the other side of the compartment, going through the same rigmarole once again.
He really believed in all that was drilled into his head about the book.
There wasn't a trace of emotional blackmail or pleading in his voice.
Nothing other than wanting to earn 5 Rs honestly.
What about several others like the one selling safetypins and rubber bands in the subway?
The one with 10 pens for 5Rs, the kid minding the peanuts, the old woman with the rattles?
Probably I do nothing more compassionate than occassionally buying from them, but
I always wonder how many do they manage to sell in a day ? A week ? A month ?
How are they able to sustain themselves with such meagre amounts.
And the efforts for earning 5Rs, leaves me pondering the great imbalance in our lives.
One day, hopefully I can make a difference.
1 comment:
I too used to think similarly earlier. But life is certainly not fair for everyone. What we should learn from this is to stop cribbing about the lack of insignificant materialistic possessions in our lives and be thankful for whatever we have. But also, as you rightly said, we should do _something_ to make a difference. If that would mean even sponsoring ONE child's education.
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