For this week @ladiesofhive - Contest , I choose to answer this question.
What is the most extreme example of poverty you have ever seen?
If you are an Indian then you will never have to struggle to answer this question, and if you have ever visited India, I am sure in some parts of the Country you would have witnessed it.
India has a lot of disparity in terms of wealth. The rich keep becoming richer and richer and the poor keep becoming poorer. This is the tragic part of the Country. If you have never seen poverty, then visit the slum areas of Mumbai, and you will see it all over there. Well at the same time it is equally true that in these slums also there are many who are very well off and still staying there. Do you know Begging is one of the most booming businesses in Mumbai city. Some Beggars have more wealth than the so called upper middle class, but they live that life to continue getting money from their source of income which is begging. One should never take it for granted that all people living in slums are poor.
This was an incident some years ago. One evening I was travelling by cab as always from work to home. It was a little late in the evening so it had become dark and I was very tired. The first cab that I got on the way I sat down and I told the driver my destination. I was then busy on my phone. In a couple of minutes, I realized that he was driving very slowly, I looked up and asked him why he was driving so slowly and in a very feeble voice he told me ok I will drive fast, but still nothing much changed. The drive from my office to home was around 45 minutes, as it is a long one. I was getting annoyed that it would take me double the time at that speed.
I told him once again, this time paying full attention on him, and at that time I saw his face clearly. He was a very old and frail person. I was a little taken back in that moment. I assumed he was easily above 80 years. I asked him, what was his age, he told me 82. I was in complete disbelief that at that age some one had to do this type of job. I asked him, he is so old and not in a very good-looking condition then how can he drive a cab. He told me, Madam what to do my Son does not work, and I have to support his family also. I have no money so I have to do some work. I was feeling very sad for him. At that age he had to work to feed his family because he has no savings. I asked him little about his family why they were not working. He said his son was on alcohol addiction, his wife was taking care of 2 very small children at home and doing some cleaning work in houses, he had grandchildren too. So to feed so many people at home, he and his daughter-in-law both had to work with whatever jobs they could get. He had managed to get this cab on hire from a friend and part of his income would go as a rent to him, so there would be not much left for him.
It was sad to hear his story. At the same time, I was also thinking even though he was poor he never succumbed to begging or taking help just on the name of his age and chose to work. That was not it, when my journey got over, I decided to pay him some extra money and he refused to take it. He told me just give me the cab fare and keep me in your prayers. I was touched by his self-respect.
He was so poor that at his age he had to still work and also take care of his family. God forbid if some medical condition would arise, what would he do :-(
As such in Mumbai city we find many people living on roads and we feel sorry for them, we think they are very poor, but as I mentioned earlier you cannot really say if they are genuinely very poor, because these people know that living on the roads means more money for them.
Back home in India I was heavily engaged in social work visiting slums and chawls and teaching children there but trust me, those small huts you see, if you visit inside you will see that they have all the luxuries of life. It is just their way of living. Many people stay like that because in that manner they get a lot of government subsidies as well.
This Cab driver incident touched my heart. I kept thinking about him for a long time. How his life must be a daily struggle to earn and feed his family. Some people, when they see that the cab driver is very old, they would not even want to take that cab. This was some years back, so I do not even know if he would be still alive. But hats off to his dignity even with such conditions of life.
I will like to invite @sayee to participate in this contest.
Thank you for visiting my blog. 👼🏻👼🏻💖💖🌹🌺🌸
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