Monday, October 15, 2012

Life in circles


What motivates anyone to move to different cities. For me it is always to break the routine. But moving countries ?personally it has been very difficult but essential. Reasons can be myriad ...return before i hit a point of no return. Move back for family and friends and in between this realize my dream of living in a small uncrowded serene village with amenities enough for a comfortable if not luxurious life (ok this will take a long time but atleast a step in that direction is progress no?). Also i can smell any little bit of racism like a rat and i hated it everytime it happened either to me personally or when i was witness to any such thing. Of course i would try as hard as i could to give it back. Like the one time we stayed in a hostel somewhere in bay of islands, a particularly old and grumpy granny was trying to talk to us to get the point across types. Like we are from a 3rd world dirty useless country. Ok yeah so what... i would have left it there. But she dint come from a bright minded open happy society either and worse she was deluded that she belonged to one such. I used to try and be clever and convince them that but what' the point? I felt I became extremely defensive almost thumping my chest to defend all about India. I never boarded the plane from Bangalore convinced that it was the happiest thing for me to do. I was on my way to be the epitome of robot like efficient woman who could do it all. Care for prash and k, run, cook, clean, study, work , go on exotic holidays  entertain frds with good food and humor, read books for variety etc etc.A part of me always remained here. Somehow i had a feeling i was becoming shallow. what and who mattered to me was so thin . There was no big picture in life. we could continue like that for years. Own half-a-million dollar house, work on making it a home ...in a place where i never felt i like belonged to the community.... where i never felt like giving from the heart. basically i could sense this conflict of interest every now and then. And conflict is not good for mental health. So i had to move. There was a time in life when all i wanted was a good night's undisturbed sleep. NZ gave me that then. I remember how prash and i were just 2 of us for a long time in welli. Now we are at the same stage. No friends to cal at midnight typically my unwind time;).  Its like i have been here doing the exact same thing sometime before. Trying to build yet again my boat. There are a few things to be happy about and proud of. I hope i dont give up on efficiency and become one of swalpa adjust maadkolli mentality. 
Now that the move is complete. well almost! I often think where to start. I commute in autos quite frequently and sometimes i get chatty with the auto drivers. I am confused about my feelings for auto drivers. As a profession, whatever anyone chooses to do, they deserve respect.... as long as they respect wat they do. Watchmen, maids, cleaners, petty shop keepers, auto drivers. How do you tell someone its ok to do what you are doing. Dont be so disrespectful to yourself and to your job. Ok may be no one can love driving an auto or cleaning the streets but atleast respect it. realise that its earning you money. I am beginning to realise the problems(ok nothing life alteringly new ). There is too many of us. There can only be so many opportunities. Some smart/lucky/genuine people get the opportunity and make it. Most dont. This obviously breeds jealousy and i-cant-care-less-about-u attitude.
In welli or NZ, the govt supports the homeless, helpless and people are given a 100 opportunities to try and make a living .
The other thing is everyone wants to be rich. y? because if u r not rich, you cannot afford for example say the best of the medical facilities. I mean who doesn't want their child/loved one to be treated by the best. In NZ, everyone goes to the council hosp. I delivered my baby there and am sure so did the plumber's wife or the receptionist or the sales girl.They dont need to have loads of cash to get basic facilities. 
Every one says its the attitude problem here. So very true...but how did this attitude come about to be in the first place? I am confused if i can say its ok... continue to drive ur auto or wipe the glass doors for the rest of your life because if there is an emergency, am sure they will perish whereas i will atleast have the chance to try my best not to because I can afford to go a branded hospital. This equality ..how can that be brought about? I am tempted towards communist approach. The haves will do away with the excess and the havenots will get a share . Somewhere down the lane in a few decades we will all be able afford the basics and then let people go after their monies and keep what they earn. But of course that wont work!. May b we dont want that extremity but wat other choices? Lets try to be honest and pay what we owe?
The problem with the people in power. The karnataka government for example is a joke .totally. Its like a round robin way of amassing wealth. Ok i will be chief min for 6 months next is ur turn types. and then oh i made a few 1000 crores less than u did so i want to be CM again. I happened to hear of a civil engineer who takes care of road works in a certain part of blore. He said very honestly that he gets about 30000 rs as bribe for a kilometer length of new road laid out. He told that he was not asking for bribes per se and also went on to say he was against it but then gave an excuse that he alone cannot change anything(*sigh*). And if he dint take what came his way then it would go off to someone else's pocket. He is the leaf of the tree meaning, the 30k has trickled down to him as a leftover after everyone else is satisfied with their share from the contractor. Appalling . Now of the 1 crore per km of the road that any contractor is to spend, 90 lakhs is for bribing. The rest a meager 10% is for the actual road. Naturally, it will not weather a single monsoon season and the story repeats with another contractor, another set of officials etc. Its impossible to think of anything anyone can do here without being in power.

I think health and education in that order are most important  for a society. I regret that i dint study to be a doctor when i had a chance. But then doctors are not the only ones who can cure no? Emotional well being and hygiene can prevent the diseases. What does one do with a section of the society that gives a rats-ass about rats in one's own home?

So its all circling round and round...all these thoughts....




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