THE SYMPATHY OXYMORON

Our human mind is so complex that it cant be quantified like Mathematics and Physics and hence prediction becomes very difficult. We interact with our ourselves as well as with our environment. The thoughts and words not only depend on our personality and attitude but also on the environment we live in. Our perception depends to a large extent on our expectancy and we say something as good because we perceive it to be good.

We, human beings, are always utility maximisers. We always seek our welfare and development at the cost of others. Not every person is lucky enough to advance in his/her life without exploiting others knowingly or unknowingly. The chunk of our population lives below the poverty line and according to Arjun Sengupta ,former Chairman of National Commission for Enterprises in Unorganised Sector(NCEUS),93 percent of our labour force is unorganized bypassing the labour laws. An average Indian works for more than 9 hours a day to cross the 100 rupee mark.Leisure is hardly a thing in their lives.

There is one group that is the “elite” group who lives a lavish and leisure life exploiting others. I am not talking about the exploitation in terms of land or labour as is being done by most of our political business class. Here comes a new group called the “sympathetic” group who indirectly uses these proletariats for their innovations and inventions and market it with an empathetic tone so that outwardly it appears to be an act for the poor. For instance, we appreciate all those things which are tagged pro poor , be it the rural labour scheme or a diatribe against the rich or a movie showcasing the protagonist as one among the poor and fighting the rich. The ultimate gainers of these acts are again the elite class who are the creators. The poor’s condition remains the same. A ‘Peepli Live’ did not change the condition of the farmers or a ‘Aarakshan’ did not create a favourable discussion towards reservation. Whenever there is an article mentioning the rural India, we read it with awe just to get the feel of the moment.

Human emotion is a façade when the environment really doesn’t make you feel that emotion. I can even sympathize with the rich corporations exploiting the poor for the profit for atleast they are in bad light throughout the rest of their life but not people who are outwardly poor but don’t contribute an inch for them. The emotions these people show is a way of development for them. The ordinary people are fools to believe that such people talk for them rather these people benefit talking about the poor. These “elites” talk about RTE and the compulsions for a child to get educated in this country. I can see thousands of children working in hotels for their livelihood. If every child in this country is educated, who will work in these hotels then ! There are millions working in undesirable conditions. If all of them come under MGNREGA as propounded by this group, then who will fill that vacuum ! Here lies the oxymoron. Even the people who advocate for such changes like 100 % literacy and employment cannot live without these unorganized poor doing the daily chores in their homes. So what is the solution ! No solution ! Status quo ! The conclusion is that there is no such a thing called egalitarian society. At the best we can have a utilitarian society. As far as the world exists, there will be categories called haves and have nots. We may be in haves category today and may shift to have nots category tomorrow. One thing the haves can do is to get a real feeling of have-nots and not just exploiting it for their own benefits.(This writing is also part of that utility maximizing).