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Disturbed

Yesterday my mother told me of an incident, a small one, yet it disturbed me the whole day. Mom was standing at a flour shop waiting for her order. A poor woman came and asked the price of Wheat flour and Ragi flour very meekly with her body bent out of embarassment. The shopkeeper said Rs. 24 per kg for both. She bought half kg of flour each and searched for the money. She had some two rupees short, yet counted all the loose change and gave it to the shopkeeper. Then she asked for chatnipudi. He said it cost around Rs. 18. She went away crestfallen as she did not have the money. It is unfortunate that it did not occur to mom until she went away that she could have bought it for her. By the time she did, the woman was gone.

At the other end of the spectrum are the rich of our land who buy helicopters every year and cars every month and quarrel with the government for petty 'special' privileges. And they are readily obliged. Such is life. Who are going to help those people who have to forego basic things for want of a few rupees? I can't forget the feeling that may be her child had wanted to taste chatnipudi, maybe she had wanted to taste it once. How disappointed she must have felt when she couldn't have the most smallest of cravings? When mom put it on my plate during supper, I couldn't eat it. Her pathetic face came in front of my eyes, and it will remain so for some days.

Comments

  1. KarthikSeptember 11, 2009 at 3:15 PM

    Ironically, these were the perils of capitalism our society has set to achieve!!

    Umpteen incidents where, the needy donot get the benefits whereas the wealthy and filthy gobble up all in the name of minority, caste etc etc.

    I wonder if the so called secularists are sensitive to such issues!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Snippet ThoughtsSeptember 11, 2009 at 3:49 PM

    No, they are not. In fact sensitivity does not belong to any group. It is an individual choice. And even those individuals who proclaim to be sensitive are rarely so.

    ReplyDelete

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