"What People Like Us Think of People Like Them"

As I saw a well-dressed brat throwing stones and beating the not-well-dressed one, I gave a ferocious look, both to that brat and to the rifted people of our society who did nothing but give-a-pity-look and walk away. You might be wondering what I did (Are you?). Well, I took the poor one to the nearby cheap hospital. He got stitches but was fine in minutes. He said he was used to all this.

Life's a soft bed of roses for those living in a five-hundred sq. feet of materialistic arrangement. What about the the other ugly, broken and much-hated part of society? They are the people who grow up playing with a rotten dry rubber and gulp all the negative criticism they are shot with. "Itne gande hote hain yeh, mittiyon mein khelte hain aur nahate bhi nahi", says my friend who just got his room painted. Their rooms are dark, warm and humid, it's their lives which needs to painted with bright colours my friend. "They all are criminals-in-making", says my mother who is still moved by the fact that our maid (was much trusted), stole half her closet and some of her priced belongings.

Why are these people always looked upon with a hidden sense of hatred? Why are they considered as a neglected part of our society? Why are they named as the black spots of our city? What makes them flourish and why do they exist? Maybe "Slumdog Millionaire" gave us the answer. (A movie describing India's filthy slum areas, got so much attention. I wonder why these white people still think India is a bullshit. It's time we take on them, Head On.)

Maybe because we feel that the slum people are pretentious, imbecile and filthy creatures who in today's time are well equipped with the basic amenities of Life. "They have everything and they still want more.", delivers my aunt. Has any one visited the-so-called-equipped slums? I can see a flashing No, in the filthy minds of the people I know. The other day I just happened to cross a slum near my locality. I saw the reality. Yes, they had television, they had electricity, they had everything my aunt had thought they would. The only thing missing was, Brightness. I don't remember seeing any dark countenance in my entire life as the one I saw that day. It was painful and much craving for life. It was like a dark tunnel with no bright opening at the end. Wet effluvium tethered my nose though but it was the site of this dark spot which was more astonishing. I was stupefied by the way they had arranged their small dorms! "Oh no;no, ten can't fit in here!", I thought as I sneaked in.  I could see young children defecating on the park edges openly and just when I saw how they did not need water for the cleaning stuff, it made me throw up. We all are cultivated crops of a very dependent, safe and caring environment. This is why we tend to disregard and keep-a-step on the culture and standards of these people. Do they deserve all this?

"Rich grows richer and poor grows poorer" philosophy compels these black tarnished minds to make a second way out. They steal, they plan and they exploit. This is what keeps them alive and this is what they do in this world based on survival-of-the-fittest theory. What if they were educated and given some way in their life? What if they had the power to choose their own destiny, as we have? There are numerable what-ifs flowing around but the number of whos is much of a concern. On this note, I request you to take a step and help a needy carve his/her life with his own hands. (Karke dekho acha lagta hai).

I have these lines to say (They are the lines which keep me positive):
God said looking straight down at me - "Lights will guide you home
                                                          And ignite your bones
                                                          And I will try to Fix You."

As I looked up at the smoke which came from one of the chullah's, I noticed the similarity between the colour, so monotonous, so dull and so scrawny. I wish government, instead of making them 'vote banks', takes a worthy and sound initiative to uplift them. 'Cause what people like us think of people like them is more an assumption and belief rather than a fact. From inside it looks like a big dark cloud without a silver lining. 

P.S - Written while flowing through the reminiscence of my school years, where we had a supplementary reader which contained an article with the same name.  Kya Din the wo, yaadein-bas yaadein reh jaati hain.