My Thoughts on a Sunny October Morn

Background information : -

1. The site adjacent to my house is a vacant plot of land. There was once a house on this land that was demolished by a merchant who seems to have bought it as an investment.

2. Ever since the Bangalore city civic authorities appointed contractors to collect the garbage of the town and dispose it, these contractors who are not accountable to the public opinion select the most convenient spot where the garbage cleaners of a few roads are advised to dump the garbage. The garbage truck visits these spots after a few days when sufficient garbage has accumulated and evacuate the stinking mess.

3. The footpath adjacent to the vacant plot has been selected as one such site, and despite my efforts (letter to Chief Minister, Local political representative, Corporation Commissioner) to get the point shifted to another location, it has not yielded any results.

4. I feel like accusing Muniyappa, a friendly scavenger who despite my protests, dumps the garbage next to my house.

5. A crucial drainage channel of my house was blocked today. This has happened due to the burrowing of bandicoots. I was informed about this by my maid servant who advised me to seek the help of Muniyappa.


With this background information I proceed ahead with the story.

It so happened that my hackles are being raised by Muniyappa who stubbornly pushes the large garbage wheel-barrows to the footpath adjacent to my house. Today morning my fury knew no bounds when I found the garbage wheelbarrow just beside the gate to my house. It was loaded with garbage and was a stinking mess and was quite heavy too. The barrow was moved close to my gate because the Sewerage Board is laying new concrete pipes and mechanized trench digging is taking place. He could have kept it in the niche on the road on the opposite side without it being close to any house. I was wild. I had decided to verbally abuse Muniyappa and even was prepared to slap him when he came nearby.

As my thoughts were going on thus, my maid informed me about the drainage channel block. So I found that I needed Muniyappa's help because, I being a middle-class retired government officer, do not have the willingness to stick my arm deep into a dirty and stinking sewage channel. So I found that I could not really attack Muniyappa and was forced to be nice to him. If you go to see, much of human pleasantness in society has a basis similar to this idea.

It was at this time that a rather deep realization struck me. If I had the willingness to stick my hand in the drainage channel, I would have had the guts to fight with Muniyappa. So I end up being nice to him. Then my thoughts began probing deeper. The middle-classes and the rich who have sufficient money wouldn't mind throwing a few rupees to get someone to do your dirty job. The medium of money that is paid strips the value of the effort involved in the work. It is not only the physical work that I am referring to, but also the mental shackles and limitations that we have tied ourselves with.  Since we have easy money, we toss a few rupees without examining the processes that are happening. If you were to correlate the twenty rupees with all the physical and emotional ramifications that the menial task involves, we would realize the value of money.  With easy money not only does one miss out thinking about these deeper aspects, we also develop contempt for the so called menial class who we get to do our dirty jobs.  We are debasing another human being, who like you, is also a child of the universe, and all that without feeling grateful to him for doing your dirty work, but rather shockingly, holding him in contempt.

The medium of money is making humankind unconscious of the value of their actions. This is what makes money dangerous! With the development of the spiritual side in me I seem to be more conscious of these things. There was a time when I was a youth when I felt that I preferred socialistic ideas. It is a truth if I say that there was in me a desire for justice and also a desire to see the gap between various classes eliminated. But while I was conscious of these facts to a certain extent I never seemed to have the consciousness to examine and probe each thought and strong emotion like I am doing these days at certain times. I would like to be more conscious but I now think it is largely a GIFT!

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