Post of 25th May 2020

  • Yesterday was a very hectic but rewarding day of work of registration of labourers for their transit permit
  • Before noon, we were inundated with names of 50 labourers to be registered
  • At the same time, a frantic call came from 10 labourers who were not able to get transportation to go to karmali from margao to board the train
  • Someone managed to negotiate with a bus driver who was willing to transport them for Rs. 4000, cost of which we decided to bear ourselves
  • Meanwhile, we also got the information that these 10 labourers would need some money for their travel expenses, but the question was how to get the money to them
  • Meenal and a colleague of hers decided to go to Verna with the money themself and hand it over to them on their way to the station
  • And this decision has had a tremendous effect on Meenal, for when she returned from Verna after delivering the money to them, her face was ashen
  • She said, when the bus came, these 10 labourers, all between 19 to 20 years of age, looked under nourished and totally dazed
  • When she handed over the money to them, they were shocked to receive the money and they froze on the ground staring at her open mouthed
  • Concerned, Meenal phoned the NGO who was working to arrange their transit from margao
  • It turns out that their labour Contractor had abandoned them at the station a few days ago, they hardly had any food, a tout had cheated them off whatever money they had
  • So when Meenal had got them  registered and arranged the bus, they were shocked at the benevolence
  • After the bus reached karmali  the labourers insisted on paying for the bus from the money that Meenal had given them
  • The bus driver himself was moved by all this and he charged 500 less from them
  • Later the NGO phoned to Meenal that the labourers had expressed their gratitude to Meenal before boarding the train and were moved to tears at being able to get to go to their homes
  • After this episode, we forgot to keep count on the number of people registered
  • Three more colleagues of Meenal's were pooled in to do the registration of labourers of Madhya Pradesh
  • The trains for Madhya Pradesh are yet to be announced but the registration has begun
  • The registration is a bit tedious but simple process
  • We first have to get the leader of each family registered by creating an email account for which their mobile number is req
  • An OTP is generated for which we have to phone them and get it from them
  • Once the account is created, it has to be logged in and details of aadhar number is to be added and further details of family members is recorded (their aadhar card is not required)
  • Once registration is done, the leader gets a message that he has been successfully registered and he can board any train to his registered destination using this message
  • Presently trains for Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh are leaving everyday from karmali and margao
  • The number of people working in the field are very few and they have a tough time getting the details of the labourers
  • We heard one more shocking story of a family registered yesterday
  • One of the family members registered in the group was shown as 15 days of age!
  • Meenal at once phoned the family and found that they had been camping outside Margao railway station for almost a month and the baby was born there out in the open dusty field outside the station!
  • They were come as construction labourers and were again left by the labour Contractor to fend for themselves
  • Having no assistance from any but subsistence received from the Government they were surviving
  • Such stories are very painful to hear and our heart goes out to them, hence I lost my lid yesterday and wrote my feelings
  • Nothing is going to stop us from reaching out to them and do as much as we can, but at the end of the day, we feel we are doing so little and sometimes feel helpless that we can't motivate more people to join in helping them
  • This whole issue of Goan and nonGoan is also very distressing and that such social stigma has been included in our education system is more appalling
  • That we have created this large social divide based on the possession of more money and less money is very sad
  • We have to realize that our etiquette is based on the society that we live in
  • Poor people have etiquette that is different from the middle class and this is also different from the rich people
  • Yet people of all three classes are and must be treated equally
  • This is best illustrated by our behavior when we visit a hotel or dhaba or five star hotel
  • At a dhaba, we behave very rudely with the waiter, we are less rude at a Udupi restaurant, much better behaved at a hotel like Mandovi and definitely more reverential to a waiter in Marriott
  • Is it so difficult to treat each human being equally?
  • We often justify this with how some labourer has cheated us of money, by charging exorbitantly and thereby explaining why they must not be trusted
  • Yet we don't use the same yardstick when a close friend cheats us of money
  • When a friend cheats us, we hold a grouse only against the particular person and not to all friends in general
  • Similarly, if we have been cheated by one or two or maybe more labourers, instead of clubbing them all as cheats why don't we do a self assessment of our own behavior to them and try to assess if we have gone wrong somewhere
  • Let me quote one more example: I had written earlier that we have a maid at our residence for zhadu pocha work
  • The standard system of payment here is at the rate of Rs.700 to Rs.800 per month for each work
  • So if we engaged her for washing utensils as well, it would be 2 works and paid accordingly
    However we have retained her for just one work and we can't pay more as there is pressure from other families that we must not pay more
  • But Meenal is not convinced and feels that is too less and she resolved that she is going to pay what is appropriate according to her own assessment
  • So we pay her Rs.2400 per month and have invented two other works to justify the pay
  • Here we have to realize that neither have we  gone overboard by being generous, nor are we buying her loyalty - we are merely being empathetic to her
  • I keep the result to your own imagination but we have no complaints that are usually associated with domestic help
  • In order to do all this, there is no necessity to change your lifestyle at all
  • We still have our little luxuries that we have always had, but every experience has made us more humble and our children have forgone a few of their uxuries voluntarily
  • The last couple of weeks has changed our perceptions of the labourers totally and we are yet to talk to an alcoholic labourer in these groups that we have interacted with

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