Little Mahi died because people older and smarter than her left a large hole uncovered !! Mahi’s story has been repeated several times in the past and will be repeated several times in the future. We will rationalise it by saying, her past karma was such, she should have been more careful, parents should have hovered around her, Govt should be blamed etc etc etc. we will blame everyone except the real culprit – us.
Just think about how we lead our lives – the driver who takes us around everywhere asks for more salary, what is your first reaction ? Why does he need it ? Everyone is just after money. He takes you to the office and in your 1:1 with your manager you talk about your career plan, increase in salary etc. Why do you need the money ? Aren’t you just after money ?
The ubiquitous maid without whom no “rich” home is complete. .. She doesn’t come one day of the week, five days in a month or 10 days in a month, what is your reaction ? All maids are shirkers, they take off at the drop of a hat, why does she need time off? You fight, yell, bustle around and hustle up a tiffin box and reach office. The air conditioned comfort, the cafeteria, the various restaurants and all the creature comforts are within reach. You eat a snack that you asked the office boy to go get and get a stomach ache… You get back home after half a day’s work. You take the next day off since you felt slightly better and didn’t want to extend yourself and the day after is a Saturday. Weekend off. No salary cut, it’s a benefit. And God forbid if you have to work a few hours on a Saturday !! Why couldn’t you continue working with the slight ache (stomach, head, heart, wherever) ?
Or think of that newspaper boy, or the girl selling balloons at the traffic light, or our silent Prime Minister, or our unseen unheard outgoing President – everyone of them is where they are because of themselves and because every one of us helped them get there, either by taking something away from them or giving something to them.
Kabir’s couplet says it very well –
बुरा जो देखन मैं चला, बुरा ना मिलया कोइ ।
जो दिल खोजा आपनो, मुझसा बुरा ना कोइ ।।
A loose translation would be “I went around looking for the bad elements, found no one, when I looked into my heart, there was no one worse than me.”
If only we don’t leave this couplet in the school, but carry it in our minds, we will realise that we need to fix ourselves first before the world out there gets fixed… And we are responsible for everything that is happening around us – if Mahi was thought of as anyone’s child as much as she was her parents child, the father who left the hole open would have put a slab over it so “his” child doesn’t fall in. But he was busy looking out for someone to blame …..
Read Rajesh’s blog on this and the commentary click here