The paradoxical India - Blogathon - Post 15

17th August 2013

In every nook and corner of India, there are two types of India.

A few years back, I remember teaching my 12th graders the theory of Paradox. In common man's terms, it spoke about how there exists good and bad, correct and incorrect together. To the extent that sometimes, good is what leads to bad. A very basic example: A farmer is asked to produce more. The more the produce, the better the chances for the farmer to prosper. Then comes a situation where there is too much of production and because of which the supply increases so much that the prices go low, and therefore the farmer bears losses.

This is in the Economics sense. But what I am talking about is the fact that how paradoxical India can get even to watch people around.

Today, while we were out for shopping, we drove through Koramangala, which is considered one of the oldest and poshest places in Bangalore. On both sides of the roads, stood beautiful and some palatial bungalows. Most of the these houses had no less than 2 cars, and none of these cars were less than the Benz.

M and I were loving the architecture some of these houses had been built with. As we passed through the lanes, I saw a young girl of about 16-17, trying to put a baby (either her child, or her sister) to sleep. She had tied a jhoola made up of cloth from a strong branch of a tree, and the baby was lying inside the jhoola. She was singing a lullaby (I could make out from her lip movements) and she had a faint smile on her face.

On the other side of the road, stood an old man ironing inside his temporary stall. He was sweating despite the cool winds.

It did not matter to any of them that there were big houses with richness all over. They were leading the simplest of the simple lives, trying to make ends meet.

Where on one hand, lived people for whom 2000 rupees was their child's half a month's pocket money...on the other hand, lived people who tried to eat, drink, educate and everything else in the same amount of money.

What a way of life...

Well, this is life....

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