No Problem

All my life I have barely been in the company of normal regular people. Even if I am I remain at my elevated zone. Therefore I have been blissfully unaware of a common man’s dilemma. To me life has always been an exciting adventure, a never ending journey or expedition, with almost no cause for regret, remorse, sadness or problem. I agree I live in a fool’s paradise, a self-created one at that. Now due to the virus for the first time ever I am forced to stay at sea level amidst normal people. Call this a blessing in disguise or an educational overdose designed by ‘god-knows-who’ I have started observing those around me. And as much as it has been a source of amusement it has also been a source of wonderment, sometime pathos and at times the bliss of knowing that what my life might have been had I chosen to walk the well trodden path. The other day the kindly neighbor invited me over for dinner. And I decided to increase my knowledge about a common man’s life.

 He has a wife, two kids and parents. Six members in a three bedroom household. They are typically middle income group. After a hefty dinner that I enjoyed wholeheartedly we settled down for some tête-à-tête. And I asked the couple what is their monthly expenditure heads and how much does he need to earn and how difficult it is to earn that amount? They got animated and the topic warmed up. They confided into me that to have two teenaged school going kids (girls) and old parents with medical expenses it was a herculean task to keep the kitchen going.

 We ticked off fresh and dry groceries, toiletries, medical and school expenses, electricity and sundry house charges, monthly house rental, car running and maintenance expenses, mobile and landline bills, dish tv, , house maid salary, social commitments (attending birthday parties, etc), occasional eating out (which they have completely stopped now), occasional clothes, computer expenses, savings investment like insurance, provident fund etc. My head spun as they kept ticking off the list one after another. I simply had no idea that a normal person has so many expense heads. To sum up we arrived at an average figure of Rs 1 lac (approx 1200$) per month for this family of 6. Being the sole earning member the man has to work pretty much whole week over long hours. They barely save anything and literally live on the monthly salary he earns. They do not have any savings for the rainy days as they confessed.

 As we discussed further, while they told me all their problems and dilemmas of modern day living in an average B town in India, for once I did not feel it right to point them out that it was their own choices that had led their life to this point. A common man’s life is often a mix of choices taken independently and also decisions upon which they feel they had no choice. But then what does a person live for? Not everyone can be a global traveler and climber like me. People need a family to belong, a home to return to and some material comforts to call his own. Of course he complicates his life leading to perennial never ending problems but then what is the other option for the vast majority of population? If they didn’t have problems how would they live and for what!

 As we wound up the evening and I was about to rise, the couple said to me something very relevant yet simple: you know bhaisahab (brother) your problem is that you have no problem. You will never understand a common person’s life.