Gandhi's Talisman and I
The idea for this article comes from a difference of opinion I had with a nice lady last night at my friend Jorge's birthday party (which BTW was awesome. Diana, his girlfriend, did an amazing job. #Respect). We differed on the value we gave to human life and the way it should be treated. A bit (a lot) of alcohol on an empty stomach meant I was quite honest while voicing my thoughts and at the same time, not a good listener (if you're reading this, I apologise for my behaviour). In addition, my thoughts aren't something that I expect anyone to like/agree with anyway. In short, I made it to the list of people she kills in her head.
However, this made me introspect a little and wonder where my thoughts on this matter stem from. The earliest thought on human life that I read was Gandhi's Talisman. We had it on the first page of all my textbooks as I was growing up.
Every year when my parents would buy me textbooks for the year, I would read this and wonder how any action in my life was ever going to have any impact on a poor person. "There's no way that studying addition and subtraction could affect a poor person at all" would be my thought.
However, I realised that this was only because I had never really seen the kind of poor that Gandhi talked about in his talisman. It all changed once I did. I was in 4th grade (about 10 years old) and we were coming from Shimla (a beautiful town in the Himalayas) after a week long vacation. Just as our train was entering Delhi, I looked outside my window and saw the people Gandhi talked about. The tracks passed through a slum and there were people indulging in open defecation. All of them, extremely weak and frail.
I asked my dad why there were doing this. His response was "because they have no other option". He went on to tell me how his childhood was the same. His family were refugees. They were Hindus who came to India from a part which is now Pakistan. They lost all their possessions and were extremely poor growing up. The only reason they could rise up and get out of that life was because my grandfather laid a lot of stress on education and because my father and his brothers were willing to work extremely hard for whatever little they could get and if I didn't study and work hard in life, I could be reduced to one of them in the future.
Over time, this experience gave rise to a dilemma inside of me. On one hand, I was so touched by what I saw and Gandhi's Talisman that I wanted to do something about it. I would think of being a politician or a civil servant working to make lives better for these people. I didn't wish to make India a super power or a super strong nation. I just wanted every person in the country to think "my country may not be the best place to live in but you know what, it's not a bad place either." I just wished that something could be done for those people. Nobody should be subjected to a level of poverty and desperation that they don't know where their next meal will come from or whether it will come at all. This part of me believed that if those of us who could make a difference would keep Gandhi's Talisman in their minds and hearts, we could build a country where everyone would like to live in instead of wishing to get out of it and go someplace better. In fact, his Talisman is so universal that if we are all willing to adopt it in some way or the other, we could definitely build a better world.
On the other hand, the experience and stories of how my dad's family fought their way out of poverty gave rise to a selfish instinct. The instinct to work hard and get my own piece of the pie without caring about where it came from. This part of me told me that if I don't put in that extra hour - be it studies or work, somebody else will and I will be nothing but an addition to the 26 million living on less than $10 a month. It desensitised me towards the value of human life. It told me that if we're not desperate enough for what we need, we won't get it. There are 7 billion of us on this planet and somebody will have to starve while others eat meat. I just need to make sure I get my chicken grilled with a nice cob salad on the side. This side doesn't blame corporations for exploiting labour. It blames the people for not working hard enough because it knows that there are people who are willing to work hard enough. It tells me that human rights, labour laws, unemployment benefits, retirement pensions etc. are luxuries that shouldn't be given to you unless you've worked hard for them. Everyone shouldn't be entitled to them. Only the ones desperate enough to work for it should.
Over time, I've always had this internal dilemma. To a certain extent, I still struggle inside and go back and forth between the two narratives. I can't be completely sure which side I stand for. However, if I look at how my life has panned out till now, I would say the latter narrative is winning. I care about my possessions over others - My Vagabond shoes (which are amazing btw. The Swedes know more about fashion than we give them credit for), my gadgets, my clothes. I just hope that with time, I'm able to come to an internal truce between these two sides of me. A point of view which takes the best of both sides and amalgamates them into one. However, at the moment, the Porsche parked outside my office makes it hard not to be selfish.
However, this made me introspect a little and wonder where my thoughts on this matter stem from. The earliest thought on human life that I read was Gandhi's Talisman. We had it on the first page of all my textbooks as I was growing up.
However, I realised that this was only because I had never really seen the kind of poor that Gandhi talked about in his talisman. It all changed once I did. I was in 4th grade (about 10 years old) and we were coming from Shimla (a beautiful town in the Himalayas) after a week long vacation. Just as our train was entering Delhi, I looked outside my window and saw the people Gandhi talked about. The tracks passed through a slum and there were people indulging in open defecation. All of them, extremely weak and frail.
I asked my dad why there were doing this. His response was "because they have no other option". He went on to tell me how his childhood was the same. His family were refugees. They were Hindus who came to India from a part which is now Pakistan. They lost all their possessions and were extremely poor growing up. The only reason they could rise up and get out of that life was because my grandfather laid a lot of stress on education and because my father and his brothers were willing to work extremely hard for whatever little they could get and if I didn't study and work hard in life, I could be reduced to one of them in the future.
Over time, this experience gave rise to a dilemma inside of me. On one hand, I was so touched by what I saw and Gandhi's Talisman that I wanted to do something about it. I would think of being a politician or a civil servant working to make lives better for these people. I didn't wish to make India a super power or a super strong nation. I just wanted every person in the country to think "my country may not be the best place to live in but you know what, it's not a bad place either." I just wished that something could be done for those people. Nobody should be subjected to a level of poverty and desperation that they don't know where their next meal will come from or whether it will come at all. This part of me believed that if those of us who could make a difference would keep Gandhi's Talisman in their minds and hearts, we could build a country where everyone would like to live in instead of wishing to get out of it and go someplace better. In fact, his Talisman is so universal that if we are all willing to adopt it in some way or the other, we could definitely build a better world.
On the other hand, the experience and stories of how my dad's family fought their way out of poverty gave rise to a selfish instinct. The instinct to work hard and get my own piece of the pie without caring about where it came from. This part of me told me that if I don't put in that extra hour - be it studies or work, somebody else will and I will be nothing but an addition to the 26 million living on less than $10 a month. It desensitised me towards the value of human life. It told me that if we're not desperate enough for what we need, we won't get it. There are 7 billion of us on this planet and somebody will have to starve while others eat meat. I just need to make sure I get my chicken grilled with a nice cob salad on the side. This side doesn't blame corporations for exploiting labour. It blames the people for not working hard enough because it knows that there are people who are willing to work hard enough. It tells me that human rights, labour laws, unemployment benefits, retirement pensions etc. are luxuries that shouldn't be given to you unless you've worked hard for them. Everyone shouldn't be entitled to them. Only the ones desperate enough to work for it should.
Over time, I've always had this internal dilemma. To a certain extent, I still struggle inside and go back and forth between the two narratives. I can't be completely sure which side I stand for. However, if I look at how my life has panned out till now, I would say the latter narrative is winning. I care about my possessions over others - My Vagabond shoes (which are amazing btw. The Swedes know more about fashion than we give them credit for), my gadgets, my clothes. I just hope that with time, I'm able to come to an internal truce between these two sides of me. A point of view which takes the best of both sides and amalgamates them into one. However, at the moment, the Porsche parked outside my office makes it hard not to be selfish.
Comments
Post a Comment