Bite 1
On a lonely morning when other elder ladies of the home were away. I was asked to see that our maid do her work properly. This gave me a chance to interact with her much more than I usually engage in. The talks between us moved along lines of Diwali gifts and somehow reached a point that I heard this story from her that left a mark on my mind.
So she and many like her feel what we do to earn is predecided in our fate. The example given in reference was that of Jwala temple in Rajasthan. As she narrated, outside this temple, there are a lot of men and women from working age group, physically able and fit who depend only on alms for livelihood. People visiting the temple give money or other things to them. All the good pucca houses around the temple on the hill are owned by these beggars (or professional alms seekers as I wish to call them now on). She, so innocently said and believed that they were blessed and bestowed by the good god who did not want them to work. Strange as it might appear to you, Imagine my state. This was a perfect real-time specimen of what conditioning and acceptance of weirdest of thoughts and ideas can do to us.
I am a patient listener, I didn't react and let her feel how bizarre I felt this was. Since then I have been thinking about it non-stop. Unable to figure out where should I place it. The comfort zone few communities rationalize by such logic. Or is it a way to avert a feeling of unfairness by the hard workers who toil to earn money. Is life just about food, roof, and shelter that one may get in alms. Or these are shackles to hold old ways by some section of society. The acceptance propagated among people on either side is by an invisible hand or follows a planned roadmap. What can be done? Should it not be done urgently? For, this content in accepting alms and living life does not just harm the section involved but macro societal fabric. The capabilities these alms seekers ignore to look and encash. The easy target they turn into for any group that wishes to radicalize them. Without self-respect to fight for. They would forever be left in a dark tunnel of adverse backwardness with a feeling that this darkness is a shade of their blessing.
On a lonely morning when other elder ladies of the home were away. I was asked to see that our maid do her work properly. This gave me a chance to interact with her much more than I usually engage in. The talks between us moved along lines of Diwali gifts and somehow reached a point that I heard this story from her that left a mark on my mind.
So she and many like her feel what we do to earn is predecided in our fate. The example given in reference was that of Jwala temple in Rajasthan. As she narrated, outside this temple, there are a lot of men and women from working age group, physically able and fit who depend only on alms for livelihood. People visiting the temple give money or other things to them. All the good pucca houses around the temple on the hill are owned by these beggars (or professional alms seekers as I wish to call them now on). She, so innocently said and believed that they were blessed and bestowed by the good god who did not want them to work. Strange as it might appear to you, Imagine my state. This was a perfect real-time specimen of what conditioning and acceptance of weirdest of thoughts and ideas can do to us.
I am a patient listener, I didn't react and let her feel how bizarre I felt this was. Since then I have been thinking about it non-stop. Unable to figure out where should I place it. The comfort zone few communities rationalize by such logic. Or is it a way to avert a feeling of unfairness by the hard workers who toil to earn money. Is life just about food, roof, and shelter that one may get in alms. Or these are shackles to hold old ways by some section of society. The acceptance propagated among people on either side is by an invisible hand or follows a planned roadmap. What can be done? Should it not be done urgently? For, this content in accepting alms and living life does not just harm the section involved but macro societal fabric. The capabilities these alms seekers ignore to look and encash. The easy target they turn into for any group that wishes to radicalize them. Without self-respect to fight for. They would forever be left in a dark tunnel of adverse backwardness with a feeling that this darkness is a shade of their blessing.
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