We sink tigether - the rich and the poor.

16 June 2015 at 19:02 · 

I was in a shop buying tea and sugar, themselves non-essentials. And the I added some murukku and biscuits, and paid a bill of 200/-, well over what just the tea and sugar would have cost.

An old maid came in to buy a biscuit packet, saw that it was 15/- and out it away. I turned away, embarrassed at my bill. And steeled myself. A small part of our soul hardens and dies each day. And we think that we are insured from the poverty around us. The poor and the rich die - we float together, or we sink together. 

Rajesh Pandey It is not true that the rich and poor die together or float together. The poor die, and the rich float.

 

Aparna Krishnan No. Both sink. The poor die physically. The rich - their souls harden and die. I do not know which is worse.

 

Rajesh Pandey I wish you were correct Aparna Krishnan. The rich live in a different world and that world has a different value system.

 

Sukumar Mukhopadhyay You are right. Otherwise how could Abhijit,a singer in Bombay say in the context of Salman`s driving and killing a few footpath dwellers, that they had no business to sleep on the footpath?

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 · Reply · 17 June 2015 at 15:36

Aparna Krishnan There is a single value system. That is defined by Dharmam. What is at variance to it is Adharmam.

 

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Aparna Krishnan I am correct. When we are able to ignore the poor runnageing in dustbins, we have become less than human. The poor will die with their humanity alive. I know which I find the greater loss.

 

Rajesh Pandey Again you are judging the rich from an alien value judgement model Aparna Krishnan. The rich continue to be rich because they have 'overcome' this value system to which you (and I) are clinging to.

 

Aparna Krishnan I am saying that they suffer from death of conscience and heart. To me that is a tragedy and they are also sufferring. As are the poor of hunger. I agree there would be other perspectives.

 

Rajesh Pandey The conscience of a rich man is alive when his dog is suffering. His heart is all tears when a gay marriage is criticised. So, I believe it is just a question of belonging to different worlds, and the conscience of both the rich and their poor are alive.

 

Aparna Krishnan yes. different perspective. its ok. because there is nothing i can do anyway. my role is small, as also my area of influence.

 

Pankaj Arora @rajesh pandey, would you please elaborate more on your observations on value system of the rich

 

L Suresh Kumar Lsk did you pay for the biscuit packet ? If not why ?

 

Rajesh Pandey The value system of the rich (or for that matter the value system of any type of elites) considers the rich as a different species and expects and reciprocates compassion, honesty, etc. within that group (rich class) only.

 

Aparna Krishnan Even within them i do not see what I see in poorer communities ! The rich are very insecure you see. Fearful creatures. Holding on to their undesergved wealth in an ocean of poverty !!

 

Rajesh Pandey Agreed Aparna Krishnan.

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 · Reply · 17 June 2015 at 11:01

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Aparna Krishnan L Suresh Kumar Lsk, no. I have understood the dignity of the poor and hesitate to interfere. In my village the relationships are deep and there has been much giving and taking over the years. to be honest, i am deeply in their debt. There I can 'give' without thinking.

 

Aparna Krishnan But having given an 'answer' because you asked, these are grey areas for me, and I am always uncertian - and the questions and answers keep transforming for me. The answer will only be found when there are deep structural changes in society and in minds. Till then it is some ad hoc response.