Andar da Bhanmbar

It has been days since I have been wanting to vent out the burning inside me – or to vent out my “andar da bhanmbar” (meaning exactly the same what I said before – the fire within). I don’t know why there is so much that I want to vent out and why I want it to be taken out while everyone around me is equally feeling the way I do. Why everyone is hiding this “bhanmbar” inside these days, I don’t know. But when you confide with anyone, and he/she would burst out. There are so many misgivings, so many inner injuries, and so many insults. We are bearing everything for God know why.

Yesterday, I went out to buy some groceries, and when I was billed for something that once cost no more than a thousand rupees, was much beyond two thousands. At first I thought there was some duplication by the shopkeeper, but when he rechecked, the total remained unchanged. It added more “bhanmbar” inside me but I could not do anything about it and had to pay to buy all that I had to. Then I thought of those less privileged, and how they were living under such times. These days a hundred rupees note vanishes like a ten rupee note of good old yester day. I wonder how a person earning a few thousands can live and sustain a family. Unfortunately, the poor have large families – normally more than four children with parents dependent upon them.

And then I opened today’s newspaper – it carried yet another bombshell. Almost 71 items, that includes many grocery and household items, that would be hit by the GST from 1 October onwards and would be out of the reach of many (including myself). Interestingly, these items also include the holy books as well – can you imagine?

But as if that’s all about it. There are other bills to pay. Take the electricity bill for instance. Eeven without day long load shedding the bill falls like a thunderbolt. And the recent statement of the MD PEPCO is not only confusing but also make me consider his acumen. As per his latest statement, there will be two rates for the electricity, for day and night separately. I fail to understand how PEPCO would ascertain which units were used during day and which during night from a single meter. Shouldn’t a homework to this effect had been carried out before announcing such a policy statement? Then there are other bills like house rent, school fees, transportation and medicines. And when one cannot pay all this, the inner “bhanmbar” starts to be fuelled more and becomes painful. This is when people take their lives. Recently, there has been a rise in number of suicides since it becomes impossible for one to live in times like this.

And the irony is that the budget presented by the successive governments is always “people friendly.” May be people mean the privileged or upper class only? The middle and lower class isn’t people anymore. They are subjects destined to live in dungeon-like-living. Even the traffic warden on duty treats people according to the vehicle they are driving. A motorcyclist may even get slapped if he objects to a traffic warden’s warning. But a black limo may sail through unhindered despite violating traffic laws.

All this makes me start my new blog – “The Fire Within” – a name suggested to me by no one other than my friend SAJS of “Doodh Patti”, “Logic is Variable” and ”Light Within” fame.

Photo:Jalalspages (Flickr)

Posted in: Governance,Issues,Life