though he does not remember me or any of my then friends working in the Bank, he was much pleased to shine my shoes with lots of enthusiasm and interest. I did tip him a 100 bucks for this job which he has been doing to brighten the appearance of shoes but some thing inside me kept asking if it is a sin to be born Poor?
He has remained stationery in the same area for decades without any change in his life style and will leave this world as a road side shoe shiner. There is nothing that the governments which were in power for nearly 37 years could do to change the life style of this person? Isn't there something wrong with our economic policies or the program of Gharibi Hatao coined by the congress which remains only as a slogan?
The unfortunate thing about this great country is that the dividends of economic development is cornered by a few affluent class and there is no equality in distribution of prosperity. unless we address this grass root problem, the shoe shiners will remain as shoe shiners for ever and ever without seeing the dawn of the propsperous era.
You should have asked the shoe sign man about his children. In all probability, they would have passed the secondary school exam atleast. There lies the end of the tunnel. Most poor people do know that education is the key to better and more remunerative jobs and do all possible sacrifices to give it to their own children.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of Deewar :-)
ReplyDeleteNo Equality in distribution apart - The human mentality is more towards continuity rather than change. They may see change in another person but not themselves. Shining shoes is very lucrative if it is our own business and earnings. I am sure this guy must be paying out half his earnings to the bigger sharks.
All I see is that a majority of the population have the basic needs to be happy (nothing suggests that being affluent means you are more happy), are well educated and continue to believe in hard work.