NATURE'S METHOD OF ACQUISITION AND DISTRIBUTION

                                                                       

SOMBHARAAN AKHAA , CHHAAVAAN BYAAKHA .....(One person saves while some other enjoys. )

 

My mother would say , Sombharaan Akha, Chhaavaan Byakhaa or one person saves while some other enjoys. As a  child ,I never understood what exactly she meant by this phrase. As I grew , I understood the meaning of this phrase that defines nature's method of collection and distribution. Mother would simply quote the story of honey bees putting everything at stake to collect honey for others to relish.

At present,whenever I look around from the window of my room and ponder a little , this Kashmiri phrase proves true in its totality . I see almost 50 percent houses vacant . Modern education has driven children far away from their homes.They may be away in search of livelihood or running after green pastures. Whatever be the case, parents also keep running after them . They keep shuttling in aircrafts or trains to assist their children in childcare or provide them some support structure to enable them to attend to their jobs.

 

Back home, the maids and their families look after these vacant houses. While the elderly owners sweat it out in trains and aircrafts and volunteer their time and sagging energy to look after their grandchildren , the maids relax under air conditioners, watch cable TV , use WiFi for their mobiles, cook and eat food provided by the house owners , use washing machines, smart toilets, geysers , perform Pooja in Pooja rooms and use every facility in the house which the owners have left under their safe custody. They also get regular salaries . When the house owners return,a gift for the maid and her family will always be there.

 

The maid is a regular helper in old age .She is a VIP guest as well. Any function, event , ceremony in the family , invitation to the maid and her family can't be ignored . Quite often, the maid also receives some money from the guests and relations of the house owners who are on a short visit . This is a sort of Baksheesh/ parting tip given happily for the delicious food that was served to them during their stay .She also recieves clothes, utensils ,food, surplus furniture, old gadgets and many times financial help from the children of the house owners . Living far away, from their parents, the children feel the maids are doing what they were required to do for their elderly parents.Many families take care of the medical expenses of their maids and their families. Many families support education of the children of their maids. Some house owners have also built separate room for these caretakers and entrusted keys of their buildings and bungalows to them.

And with the spread of education, the rate of expansion of Jhuggis in our cities has turned stagnant if not come down.

 

Nature acts slowly, silently and justly . It has its own methods of collection and distribution. It needs no 'Cultural Revolution', no 'Bastile Storming' or any ' 'ism' or 'Movement ' or 'Nationalization' and no drum beaters of ' Glasnost and Perestroika' . Is it the 'Great Material  Continuum' ? 

( Avtar Mota )

 

 

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.