By Kunal Arora:
Our commitments, reasons, judgements, thinking are altered by how much we have in our bank accounts. One might be knowledgeable, having a great understanding about any subject, experience but if the pockets are empty, you will be disrespected. Money has brought disparity in the way in which we acknowledge others. The distinction is made on the basis of how much we earn and our appearance. Respect in today’s world can be earned not by your knowledge but the way we appear.
It was the festive day of Rakhi, one of the most celebrated and pious festivals in our country when I was made to realise my worth. The journey from my workplace in Gurgaon to hometown in Ambala was filled with instances reflecting how regressive India is, putting to test my belief in humanity. Following are the events which occurred in just a few hours.
The first episode:
A well-dressed lady in her thirties boarded the metro and the moment she did, a skinny, short and dark guy who was behind her, fell on her bag. Something expensive in her bag broke and she hurled tight slaps and cuss words on him. Some of the other people helped the lady by abusing and pushing him out, at the next station. No one knew what he broke but what he paid for that expensive item was too much.
The second episode:
On the same day, after reaching ISBT Kashmere Gate, that would take me to Ambala, I had a two hours wait so I decided to take a stroll. As I moved forward I heard a bang. A poor man was kicked on the chest and thrown out of a Volvo bus by the conductor. The guy could have escaped by running but he didn’t know the reason why he was pushed like a piece of trash. The conductor came out from the bus with a big bunch of keys in his hand and gave tight blows in the face of the poor man. He was kicked so hard that he puked right away. Almost killing the guy, the big bellied conductor asked him why he boarded the bus.
“Do you have any idea how much is the cost of travelling in this bus?”, In response, the man on the road said, “I didn’t know this bus is meant for rich people. Please forgive me.” He was released after being thrashed, there was blood on both sides of the face and the pain was visible. No one interrupted as everyone was busy boarding the bus.
Had these guys been rich, and their pockets had been full of money, and their appearance conformed with the standards of propriety they would never have faced this trouble and humiliation. I never associated much importance to money, it had always been a resource but these events changed the way I thought.
We need to break this disparity between the rich and the poor in order to restore human values. Being rich doesn’t make anyone wise and authoritative, our real achievements lie in being humble and human. Use your money to feed the hungry not your ego as everything might fall apart once you lose your wealth but your humanity will be remembered forever.