Note: This article is an exact copy of one I'd written earlier. Unfortunately, I wrote that article at a time when not many people went around reading blogs. I consider it to be a piece of writing about something we must all be aware of, so I thought I'd just put it up once again. If you've read this before, SKIP.
When I was walking down the street the other day, I saw a couple of kids playing with an old football. It was torn in several places but nonetheless reasonably round. What fun those two were having! For a few moments I stood watching one of them baffle the other with his trickery and excellent ball-control. This young boy, barely thirteen years of age, had the potential to give any defender serious nightmares.
However, he never will. He lives in a slum near my house and will soon be working for a living. When he turns fourteen, his father will make him work as a cleaner in a nearby restaurant. For ten hours of hard labour, he will take home a paltry sum of forty rupees. Some of us will spend his entire monthly wages for a few minutes of fun without batting an eyelid. Some of us will look the other way when he comes to clean our table in the hope of escaping reality. Some of us will become experts in looking the other way whenever we find it convenient. The rest of us will become masters at ignoring our guilt. All of us will find solace by asking the following question: "How many can we help? There are too many".
There are indeed too many. Its life as we know it. We just have to deal with it. Unfortunately, I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel for the boy. He looks set to live a life of poverty and there seems to be nothing on offer to change that. Looking at him playing football, blissfully unaware of the future that awaits, I feel like a fool. Why? Because I spend far too much time worrying about things. If only I could be more like the boy, joyfully enjoying his moment in the sun. Perhaps I need to learn the true meaning of contentment. As the saying goes: "To get what you want is success. To want what you have is happiness". I intend to start living that way.
temple by the sea
15 years ago
6 comments:
That's a kid gullu. Even when we were kids, we were blissfully unaware of what was to come in the future and knew nothing but we had to study to do well because our parents said so. At this age we are bound to think about what is to come.
Exactly. I'm not sure if many of us realise what's happening in the world.
Wouldn't it be much better if we lived each day like a child? Carefree and happy?
Seriously gullu, where would we go if we were to do that? It is important to think ahead but yes, sometimes people do tend to overdo it.
It's a hopeless situation. The rich will keep getting richer, and the poor will get poorer, and there's absolutely nothing that can be done in a capitalist dominated country like ours.
The economy moved to capitalism too quickly in my opinion, India would have to something like China did, to be anywhere close to solving the problem. But then again, that would kill free will, but its probably a better move for the greater good.
More on the lines if Gulu's post, It's shameful that we take our lives for granted, and the fact that we complain makes the situation worse.
Yup. It's the most irritating thing, seeing people with EVERYTHING complain about roads, traffic etc. Come on, don't they realize that they could, just as easily, be on the streets struggling for three meals a day?
And it's not just in India. True, we have a huge number of poor people but surprisingly, the country with the largest rich to poor gap is: The United States of America. It's not all hunky-dory in rich countries. They have their share of poverty as well.
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