Armless on Commercial Arm

  •   Thu, Feb 19 2015
  •   By Jerri Melwin Dias

February 19, 2015


Every city in the world has its commercial street. It's an incentive for us to visit any city in the world. This street attracts many people who either buy from the finest brands in the world or like me take a stroll for a window shopping. The glowing lights and colors of these streets tantalize our consumerist veins. Every material we gaze shows us how important for us to have it. In other words without it we will be lost. Hence there is a longing to fulfill our desires to have one or the other.

There is a boom in the income of the people, that is because of the better job opportunities in the world. Wallets have swollen to the full; economy has surpassed it's bad times and has put money in people's pockets. In turn people empty the wallets in these huge commercial streets. Therefore there is a flow in the economy. It becomes a cycle of spending and receiving. As an economist I tend to incline my article towards economical issues of the people. But my aim is not to dwell too much on it for this is not an exhortation on the subject. I would like give food for thought; as I was strolling through Bangalore's biggest commercial street Mahatma Gandhi Road, my eyes went to an armless poor person in the corner of a big designer shop waiting for crumbs to fall from master's table. He was so poor that he didn't even have proper clothing in the chilly evening and the irony was that he was right in the corner of a designer clothing shop. He had a small mat on which spread a few coins.

What drew my attention was that there were a few coins of British sterling. This is the scenario of an armless poor beggar. I wanted to get close to him and have a small chat about everything. So I gave him some money so that I could get close to him. He looked happy to talk to me for I was the only person who spoke to him among the millions people who walk this street. I was curious to know whether he knew the silver with brown coated coins. He said it's foreign money, well he knew that much. But he had no idea how much that two pounds was worth Indian rupees. It would be around one hundred and sixty rupees. Now that's a lot of money for the beggar. I was curious as to where and how he would exchange those foreign coins. He told me a place and said they give something and I take it. It's like something better than nothing.

Two things that engulfed my mind that day, first, every fat wallet people failed to see the people in need, who didn't even have a proper access to clothing. A country can be rich for some and poor for the others. A country can showcase itself as rich by showing the best stock exchange booming bars, that is the reality of India. It is a country growing in its leaps and bounds for the global economy. It is in the spotlight where every one has this illusion that India will be super rich nation in few years time. I think it's time to look inward to our people who live without the proper basic necessities of life. It's time to invest in our people rather than looking for some multinational companies who take out from the pot. Let's build our economy for ourselves and let us not build it to show to the world what a super power we are.

Secondly, the poor beggar was ignorant how much income he had, rather he was content with what he had. This is the reality that poor people are robbed of what they have. At the cost of the poor another builds their mansions and sky scrappers. Poor have to bear the brunt because they are honest and genuine people. They know not how to make money through crooked ways. That is why poor remain poor and rich become even more richer. This world is full of irony.

Can we break this irony and make it indiscriminatory reality? Can we come out of the illusion that we could be rich for the world whilst we have our backyard to be cleared first? I leave with these two questions.

 

Jerrri Melwin Dias Archives:

 
By Jerri Melwin Dias
To submit your article / poem / short story to Daijiworld, please email it to news@daijiworld.com mentioning 'Article/poem submission for daijiworld' in the subject line. Please note the following:

  • The article / poem / short story should be original and previously unpublished in other websites except in the personal blog of the author. We will cross-check the originality of the article, and if found to be copied from another source in whole or in parts without appropriate acknowledgment, the submission will be rejected.
  • The author of the poem / article / short story should include a brief self-introduction limited to 500 characters and his/her recent picture (optional). Pictures relevant to the article may also be sent (optional), provided they are not bound by copyright. Travelogues should be sent along with relevant pictures not sourced from the Internet. Travelogues without relevant pictures will be rejected.
  • In case of a short story / article, the write-up should be at least one-and-a-half pages in word document in Times New Roman font 12 (or, about 700-800 words). Contributors are requested to keep their write-ups limited to a maximum of four pages. Longer write-ups may be sent in parts to publish in installments. Each installment should be sent within a week of the previous installment. A single poem sent for publication should be at least 3/4th of a page in length. Multiple short poems may be submitted for single publication.
  • All submissions should be in Microsoft Word format or text file. Pictures should not be larger than 1000 pixels in width, and of good resolution. Pictures should be attached separately in the mail and may be numbered if the author wants them to be placed in order.
  • Submission of the article / poem / short story does not automatically entail that it would be published. Daijiworld editors will examine each submission and decide on its acceptance/rejection purely based on merit.
  • Daijiworld reserves the right to edit the submission if necessary for grammar and spelling, without compromising on the author's tone and message.
  • Daijiworld reserves the right to reject submissions without prior notice. Mails/calls on the status of the submission will not be entertained. Contributors are requested to be patient.
  • The article / poem / short story should not be targeted directly or indirectly at any individual/group/community. Daijiworld will not assume responsibility for factual errors in the submission.
  • Once accepted, the article / poem / short story will be published as and when we have space. Publication may take up to four weeks from the date of submission of the write-up, depending on the number of submissions we receive. No author will be published twice in succession or twice within a fortnight.
  • Time-bound articles (example, on Mother's Day) should be sent at least a week in advance. Please specify the occasion as well as the date on which you would like it published while sending the write-up.

Comment on this article

  • VINCY, Bangkok

    Fri, Feb 20 2015

    This is India. We are willingly or unwillingly very patriotic when we are collective. The Gap between rich and poor remain same or rather expand. Very good article.

  • Rita, Germany

    Fri, Feb 20 2015

    To tell you the truth,one cannot go through streets of India without Meeting atleast one begger.When you start putting one rupee to each ,at the end doesnt have left much.and you want too to carry something home.Every begger has one or other ailment.Some beggers believe me earn enough depending where he sits,but still begs.Certain People doesnt want to live in a modern world,want freedom beg and live with it.With it they pesture citizens walking around.Here there are some Youngsters ,not interested to learn or study,not ready to follow rules and regulations ,so sit at road side and beg,smoke,drink with what they get ,drugs,when Money is not there ,steal in Shops,and and.some get sick,some die .To such People noone can do anything.It has nothing to do with wealth.Their mind should work,and Change.Begging is a bad Business.our India has many Problems besides poverty.Our sozial net work should function well first to get rid of poverty.


Leave a Comment

Title: Armless on Commercial Arm



You have 2000 characters left.

Disclaimer:

Please write your correct name and email address. Kindly do not post any personal, abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful or similar comments. Daijiworld.com will not be responsible for any defamatory message posted under this article.

Please note that sending false messages to insult, defame, intimidate, mislead or deceive people or to intentionally cause public disorder is punishable under law. It is obligatory on Daijiworld to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments, to the authority concerned upon request.

Hence, sending offensive comments using daijiworld will be purely at your own risk, and in no way will Daijiworld.com be held responsible.