We have Inner Voice in Symphony which helps make a little contribution to the huge efforts made by voluntary organisations in catering to the needs of the needy and helpless.
But everytime I read the words Inner Voice, it reminds me of something else. The first question that my inner voice pops up with is 'Do we help ourselves?'. There are numerous issues that we face in our day to day life. Do we fix them or crib about them? And why do we need others like us to fix them for us? While we go around helping others? Let me explain my point by giving a few examples of the problems we know exist and tend to ignore or workaround.
We rent a house to stay. The house does not meet some basic standards of living, the owner demands an exhorbitant rent for the same, expects to be paid in cash, does not provide any receipt for it, takes deposit and makes agreement on a stamp paper that has no legal standing. Again if you intend to leave the place there is definitely going to be a deduction in the deposit amount returned. This is all very understood, right? Usual, right? Thats the way here, right? But why? We know its wrong. We know that we are paying tax and someone else is not. Do we try doing anything about it? Yet we find it necessary to do a walkathon for someone else.
We pay taxes to the government to provide us basic facilities, like water, electricity, roads, services. (We dont really pay, we are forced to pay, I wouldve probably stopped paying taxes a long time ago, if I knew I had to live in such a world, again why am I not doing anything about it? hmmm)Coming back to where i started, although we have already paid for these services, we still buy water cans, we still drive or commute on pathetic roads. Why dont we do anything about it? Oh but we still did not forget to donate to tsunami victims.
Once, my friend and me had got very late and were not finding an auto. The autos that did oblige were ready to do so for a price that was 6 times more than the normal rate. The attitude was so infuriating that we decided to walk down the way (short distance). Suddenly out of the blue comes a man on a scooter yelling at us to be walking on the road alone. "Are you crazy? Are you from a different city? Let me find an auto for you? Wait there! You should not travel on Bangalore roads alone in the night!" We told the person please do not try and find an auto. He failed to understand why. I told him, "How do we know whether we can trust you?" At that point of time I would have not trusted even a policeman. Made we wonder, who is going to help me bring about that trust, that faith in law and order? Who will change the unruly behaviour of the autodrivers? When will the day come when a Bangalorean will feel ashamed of having to say that the city is not safe in the night. But then is it safe in the day? And am I doing anything about it? Nope. Its easier to help give some money to homes for abandadoned children.
These are just some examples of what is wrong in our lives. I feel, we need to bring about a change in our lives first before showing the guts to change the lives of others. When we dont have proper roads, how can we expect facilities for the disabled? When we dont even follow basic traffic rules, how can we expect any special provisions for the blind to cross the same roads? When we dont feel safe walking on the roads at 10 pm in the heart of the city, how can we expect protection for street children? When we are letting politicians create unrest and rifts between states over issues like water and language, how can we expect our neighbouring country to talk about peace with us? What about issues like tackling corrupt politicians? Its our money they are eating. Are we doing anything about it? What about world politics? Do we understand how the decisions made by world leaders to serve their own interests could make an impact in our day to day lives?
Hey arent we the ones who are well informed? People who have to fight from grassroots level are trying their bit. What about us? If there is a Medha Patkar for the poor, there has to be a Narayan Murthy for us. We need to look into more complex matters. We need to question those who can get away from the clutches of common people. We need to spearhead a crusade against injustice. Injustice towards lesser mortals? We are those lesser mortals. We have to help ourselves first!!
Contributing in a small way to people who are helping other living beings is not enough. We must simultaneously also tackle the issues that we face in our day to day life. Lead by example.
-Y.
