Network-Of Every Kind

A few days back, a cartoon was doing the rounds on social. It was simple, yet vividly depicted the differential treatment of different classes - the "flying class" and the "walking class". We shared the cartoon, we empathised, we "felt" sorry, we were "angry", we "tried" to "understand" the problem, we " did" what we "could ". 

But, did we fail to acknowledge that there exists one more class, somewhere in between, the class whose members have got a roof above their heads and enjoy three meals a day? However, for whatever reasons and unlike metropolitan elites, they may not have good internet access, may not have an assigned study room or table to blissfully ignore the world's problems and study. 

Shah Rukh and Kajol might be romancing on the TV screen next to them, Mr. 56 might be blabbering "saare deshwasiyo", in incomprehensible Hindi. Moms sitting beside might want to share that their salaries have been "robbed" by the state without their consent or that their kids are simply unable to concentrate on studies during these unprecedented times. 

When we could empathise with walking migrants, whom we rarely interact with, understanding our friends' difficulties shouldn't be hard, right? 

We want to "continue learning". All of us. But "learning" need not necessarily mean those three mandatory courses plus two electives. We can learn how to be inclusive, learn to acknowledge social problems, learn to unlearn, read Ambedkar, Phule, Kuvempu. After all, why do we all work hard? To make this world more 'just' than it was yesterday, alva?

Vivek Jadhav