My Hunger Protest!

Evano Oruvan was telecast on Sun TV last weekend. This movie is about one man’s struggle against the system. Though I have not seen the full movie, I have seen a few scenes, which have inspired me to write this post. There is one scene in the movie where the protagonist, Madhavan and his friend buy cold drinks at a shop. The shopkeeper charges them extra, the reason being, he has to pay for electricity for the fridge where he stores the cold drinks. Madhavan is irked by this and refuses to pay him extra. He also forbids his friend from doing so. Though I felt violence was totally unnecessary in this scene, I would say that Madhavan’s outburst was justified.

I am a software engineer by profession and unfortunately, most of the people whom I meet, immediately form assumptions about my salary. The worst part is, they also think that their assumptions are true. I have given up trying to convince them (the only way to convince them would be to show them my salary slip, which I am not willing to do). There is a joke that a man wants to be as rich as his child thinks him to be. I would say that I want to earn as much as others think I am earning.

My office has a food court, where I go regularly for a cup of tea (nothing like caffeine to stimulate you to stay that extra 2 hours). On days when I feel upto a snack, I prefer having American sweet corn (samosa and bajji are the only other options). Depending on the cup size, it costs Rs 20, Rs 30 and Rs 40. Me being me, I always prefer the smallest cup (hard earned money right?). From the past few days, I have been noticing a gradual decrease in the size of the cup. Presently the Rs 20 cup is designed to hold about 50-60 corn kernels (I swear I am not lying or exaggerating). The first time I bought it (after the change in the cup size), I was shocked. I told my friends about it. They had not even noticed that the cup size had changed. I reluctantly consumed it that day. Somehow the corn did not taste good to me.

I expected to see a decline in the number of sweet corn consumers in the days to come. But I was so wrong. Nobody actually seemed to mind that they were paying the same amount for a smaller quantity. If I was anywhere like Madhavan, I should have immediately demanded an explanation. But since I lack the guts to do anything of the sort (yes! I admit it), I could only protest against this in my own way-which is by not buying sweet corn from that vendor any more. If I did not do this atleast, I could not live with myself.

Sometimes, I feel, we are responsible for this situation. We have become used to seeing corruption, all around us, that we have now become oblivious to it. We prefer coughing up more money, rather than spending time to correct the situation. In the above scenario, if all the consumers had taken a joint stance against the vendor and stopped buying corn from him, he would have mended his ways. Since nobody protested, he thought nobody cared.

On a more serious note, fuel prices have been hiked again. People who are going to be affected by this hike (read lower middle class and poor people) are out on streets protesting. How many of us are going to join and support them? Is it really true that only they are going to be affected by this hike?

A Tribute to my Gentleman

"Life is not fair", he thought as he sat outside the steps of the Nokia Priority shop, which was now closed for the day. He tried to protect himself from the biting cold by wrapping his shawl around him more tightly, but it seemed inadequate in this weather. The only people to keep him company in this god forsaken place were the lone beggar who was sleeping on the steps of the neighboring shop, scantily dressed and in deep sleep, and the man who sold peanuts at the bus stop, who had done a brisk business during the day and was busy packing his wares to head home. In a few minutes, he would be the only conscious person there. In the initial few days of this routine, the thought had mildly discomforted him, but now after 2 months, he was used to it and it no longer bothered him.

Making up his mind to focus on something other than the cold, he began to think of how it had all started. She had been posted at this location 2 months back and her new project demanded that she work late into the night. Initially she used to come in a cab all alone, but he had felt that it was unsafe and had offered to wait for her so that they could come together in the cab. She had resisted the idea at first, but had then given in with a heavy heart, because she knew that he was stubborn and would not heed her words, once he had taken a decision.

From then on, his daily routine had changed. He would call her towards the late evening and she would give him an approximate time as to when she would be done with the day's work. Two hours prior to that, he would start from him home and walk the 2 kms to the nearest bus stop. If he was lucky, he would get a government bus. Otherwise, he would take a private bus or cab and reach the designated bus stop to wait for her. Mostly, she would reach there on time. Rarely, she used to get held up in some unplanned call or meeting which would delay her. On those days, she would feel extremely guilty for having made him wait and would call him every 10 mins or so and assure him that she was doing the best she could to wrap up the work early and join him.

He had tried talking to her about leaving this job and trying for another one. It was not that the family was dependent on her salary. They were able to afford all the basic amenities of life, maybe not the luxuries. They were happy and that was what had mattered. But she was skeptical about getting another job. She had told him that it was recession time and getting a good job was difficult. She also told that the recession had put a lot of pressure on the working people and they could be fired without any reason at all. "So what?", he had argued. "You can stay at home for some time and gain all the lost weight", he had joked. She had smiled and told him that she had struggled for 4 years for this job. This job meant a lot to her and she did not want to give it up so soon. "The recession is just a temporary phase", she had reasoned. "Once the market picks up, more people will be hired and then there won't be this much pressure", she had assured him. He did not know whether to believe her or not. He did not understand the working of this industry.

The ringing of the cell phone in his pocket broke his reverie and brought him back to the present. It must be her, he thought as he received the call. "I am near the signal and I can see you. Please get up from your place and stand near the curb. I will be there in 2 mins" she told and cut the call. He got up and started walking. His walking was unsteady as his feet were numbed by the cold.

A Tata Indica car stopped near him and he opened the door and got in. She smiled at him. She looked tired. He offered her some biscuits which he had remembered to bring with him. She refused. She had firmly told him not to talk to her in the car. "The driver can hear us and it is not safe", she had reasoned. He wondered if she was being overly cautious. He did not argue with her, though.

After 10 mins of silence, she leaned close to him and whispered- "Appa, I have spoken to my manager. He has told me that I will be getting a laptop tomorrow. In case of any late night calls, I can leave early and attend the call from home. So you don't have to wait like this from tomorrow."

"I am so relieved Appa. I know how much of a punishment it was that you had to wait for me like this. Thankfully it is over now.". Looking at his puzzled expression, she asked him- "Are you not relieved, Appa?". He ought to be relieved, now that this ordeal was over. But he was not. He was not sure why. His little girl did not need him anymore.

P.S: Happy Father's day Appa!!! What you have done for me cannot be summarized in mere words. I just want to let you know that you mean a lot to me and you are the world's best father.

Hello World!!!

Even after a lot of persuasion from my sister, I could not bring myself to create a blogging account. I was ( and still am) way too lazy for that. I remember her asking me to write something at least for a guest post for her blog. In a brief moment of inspiration, I had come up with a post, only to see that my hard disk crashed the next day and my post was lost. I thought that destiny was against me and gave up. I even tried to maintain a diary for a few months, but the outcome, as my mother rightly predicted, was a discarded diary with 3 pages filled with random stuff written in pink ink. Presently my mother uses it to note down shlokas and recipes and so I find solace in the fact that it is being put to some use at least.

So why suddenly now? I would say that from the past few months, I have had pretty strong views about many things happening around me. Of late, I have this urge to share my views with the world. So this blog is just an outlet for my thoughts which have been pent up from quite some time.

I just hope I am able to post regularly and remain active. Thats a mammoth task in itself. Maybe I need a mid-year resolution for the same ;)