Posts In This Series - Part-1 | Prologue Part-2 | Family Part-3 | Conveniences Part-4 | Public Infrastructure With our country's explosive population, there arises the associated tragedy of shortage of jobs with decent pay. As a consequence, you have the availability of a labor force willing to do all your dirty, grunt work - what we rich, privileged folks like to call one of the 'conveniences' of living in India.
Been following this series, you sum up my moral conundrum with these 'conveniences' very well. Thank you for treating your cook and maid with dignity, I hope giving them Sundays off becomes more widespread. Waiting for the next in the series, to answer my question of if one wants to avoid the delivery apps and do some of the things themselves, how hard is it to get around.
Jun 10, 2023·edited Jun 10, 2023Liked by Nitin Puranik
You are a good person and want to do the right thing. And a little bit of guilt is useful in that. But feeling guilty can also be counterproductive.
It’s good to remember that these upper class conveniences also provide a livelihood to many and the alternative sometimes is often scary for them.
The dignity and salaries of some of these jobs (cooks, for example) have gone up quite a bit in the last 2 decades. Very often, while working/commuting/kids they are a necessity and people are more mindful nowadays. A long way to go though, I agree.
Hey Jay! You're right, self-awareness levels of current India is definitely way better than from the yesteryears. Cooks and nannies command respect and are treated like extended members of the household. Maids also have it much better today compared to earlier.
I only feel sorry for the gig workers for the poor pay they get for their delivery assignments, and the lack of company benefits as they're not considered employees. But that's still better than not being employed at all, which could lead to anti-social ways of earning money thru crime. The delivery-gig economy is also probably helping with the traffic situation in Bangalore, since they all mostly drive 2-wheelers and do multiple batch deliveries at once. The well-to-do people have fewer reasons to get out onto the roads in their big cars for personal errands.
Been following this series, you sum up my moral conundrum with these 'conveniences' very well. Thank you for treating your cook and maid with dignity, I hope giving them Sundays off becomes more widespread. Waiting for the next in the series, to answer my question of if one wants to avoid the delivery apps and do some of the things themselves, how hard is it to get around.
Thanks for your post :)
Thanks, glad the post resonated with you, Abhinand! I'll try to get around to making my next post in the next 2-3 weeks :)
You are a good person and want to do the right thing. And a little bit of guilt is useful in that. But feeling guilty can also be counterproductive.
It’s good to remember that these upper class conveniences also provide a livelihood to many and the alternative sometimes is often scary for them.
The dignity and salaries of some of these jobs (cooks, for example) have gone up quite a bit in the last 2 decades. Very often, while working/commuting/kids they are a necessity and people are more mindful nowadays. A long way to go though, I agree.
Hey Jay! You're right, self-awareness levels of current India is definitely way better than from the yesteryears. Cooks and nannies command respect and are treated like extended members of the household. Maids also have it much better today compared to earlier.
I only feel sorry for the gig workers for the poor pay they get for their delivery assignments, and the lack of company benefits as they're not considered employees. But that's still better than not being employed at all, which could lead to anti-social ways of earning money thru crime. The delivery-gig economy is also probably helping with the traffic situation in Bangalore, since they all mostly drive 2-wheelers and do multiple batch deliveries at once. The well-to-do people have fewer reasons to get out onto the roads in their big cars for personal errands.