It finally happened, so now we can all go back to our daily lives.
For 20-odd days, every news headline read the same. Now that the prodigal son has been granted bail, the nation heaved a collective sigh of relief.
It is said that the GDP numbers have been drastically affected due to the lack of productivity this month, given that everyone’s attention was occupied by this single piece of information and a question that rivaled the “Kattapa ne Bahubali ko kyun Mara”…when will Aryan Khan get bail?
Anyways, now that SRK has posed with the impressive set of lawyers that fought the case, with equally impressive billable hours, and the final figure that may resemble the GDP of an island in the Carribean…we can move on to more important matters.
Which brings me to think of the increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots. The haves can afford to arm themselves with lawyers extraordinaire, the have-nots can barely afford a decent black coat. The haves make more money in a pandemic, the have-nots struggle to save their jobs…this widening chasm has billionaires like Elon Musk on one side with his net-worth crossing the GDP of a country of 220 million people (Pakistan), and a desperate rung of society that faces an uncertain future on the other.
Which brings me to a related observation I made today. As I waited at the signal in my housing community, I noticed a large number of two-wheelers parked around the lawns at the junction. There were at least 60 riders resting under the trees, all trying to squeeze in their bit of the shade, and waiting for the call that would set them on their way to hungry (and mostly thankless) customers.
Delivery heroes, we call them. But what a thankless job – snaking through traffic, in the heat, riding all day, and then trying to find impossible addresses – all to reach a house where a door opens, a hand is thrust out to grab the food, and then the door is shut – a 20 second interaction at most.
Can imagine what they go through in peak summer…just to ensure that our food reaches us on time.
Two sections of society – from time immemorial. And the gap shows no signs of lessening – if anything, and going by what I have seen and read – this gap is going to become the widest it has ever been, thanks to technology.
Food for thought!