Is butcher/toilet cleaning in Canada better than being in India
I am restless....I still have few more hours to kill before I can take my flight from Calgary Airport....Trying to avoid thinking about the consequences which made me sit there........I am concentrating on things around me....
Indians Everywhere.......particularly Punjabis .....
A old lady of about 55yrs old slowly walked in front of me...picking up the trashes from the floor. Her face was very quiet, dead calm...... as if she was never given the right to speak for last 10years or more....I keep looking at her......She never seems to care for anything happening around her....She is just concentrating on her work.....I can clearly see something running in her mind in the background.........may be she is thinking about the life she missed being in India...or ...........whatever it is......I would say, she is not happy with her life.
After spending few minutes thinking about her life, I decided to run to the restroom before I check in for my flight. Another lady about 45yrs old cleaning the toilets. She gave a broad smile, she was even willing to give more than a smile...may be a little conversation?.......She had all the love in her smile. This always happened to me...when a person(Indian), say a s/w engr comes across you while you are shopping, or in the temple or elsewhere he just tries to ignore you....tries to show the people around us that we dont belong to the same place...or just a weird smile that clearly indicates that he didnt want to smile .....but when poor people meet you , they are always nice, kind and ready for conversation or even introduce you to their friends that you belong to their place and even try to talk in their languages....So, is it true that poor people have all the love and rich people dont........or is it that we ourselves should check within our heart if we still remain kind...while we keep growing richer??...Looks like I am going off the topic...
Back to where I am.........
Last time I feel like going and asking the 55yr old, if she is happy, but didnt want to embarass her..but now, as she is giving a friendly look, I started talking to her. With her little english and my little Hindi ( I think only TN ppl are cursed with anti-hindi..I will write about this separately) ,
I asked her how did she choose to come to Canada...
she didnt know what to answer....
I asked her again, did you come with your husband...
she said yes...
so, what is your husband doing?......
"He works as a butcher for a meat factory"...
"oh my god" I didnt show my expression...The meat is probably from buffalos or similar kind..
After a little pause, I slowly asked her, "Are you happy?"
"I have two sons who goes to school/college...I wouldnt have done this if I am in India."
Hmm...another poverty story.........So, does that mean she is happy...I would say partially yes.
Regretting about my Hindi speaking skills, I returned to catch my flight.
But, my mind keeps running around those people....So, Is a butcher job or toilet cleaning job in Canada better than staying in India........Are we(India) doing anything at all to improve this situation....OR Is there still people coming from India to do such kinda jobs?
Incident happened during May 5 2005
Indians Everywhere.......particularly Punjabis .....
A old lady of about 55yrs old slowly walked in front of me...picking up the trashes from the floor. Her face was very quiet, dead calm...... as if she was never given the right to speak for last 10years or more....I keep looking at her......She never seems to care for anything happening around her....She is just concentrating on her work.....I can clearly see something running in her mind in the background.........may be she is thinking about the life she missed being in India...or ...........whatever it is......I would say, she is not happy with her life.
After spending few minutes thinking about her life, I decided to run to the restroom before I check in for my flight. Another lady about 45yrs old cleaning the toilets. She gave a broad smile, she was even willing to give more than a smile...may be a little conversation?.......She had all the love in her smile. This always happened to me...when a person(Indian), say a s/w engr comes across you while you are shopping, or in the temple or elsewhere he just tries to ignore you....tries to show the people around us that we dont belong to the same place...or just a weird smile that clearly indicates that he didnt want to smile .....but when poor people meet you , they are always nice, kind and ready for conversation or even introduce you to their friends that you belong to their place and even try to talk in their languages....So, is it true that poor people have all the love and rich people dont........or is it that we ourselves should check within our heart if we still remain kind...while we keep growing richer??...Looks like I am going off the topic...
Back to where I am.........
Last time I feel like going and asking the 55yr old, if she is happy, but didnt want to embarass her..but now, as she is giving a friendly look, I started talking to her. With her little english and my little Hindi ( I think only TN ppl are cursed with anti-hindi..I will write about this separately) ,
I asked her how did she choose to come to Canada...
she didnt know what to answer....
I asked her again, did you come with your husband...
she said yes...
so, what is your husband doing?......
"He works as a butcher for a meat factory"...
"oh my god" I didnt show my expression...The meat is probably from buffalos or similar kind..
After a little pause, I slowly asked her, "Are you happy?"
"I have two sons who goes to school/college...I wouldnt have done this if I am in India."
Hmm...another poverty story.........So, does that mean she is happy...I would say partially yes.
Regretting about my Hindi speaking skills, I returned to catch my flight.
But, my mind keeps running around those people....So, Is a butcher job or toilet cleaning job in Canada better than staying in India........Are we(India) doing anything at all to improve this situation....OR Is there still people coming from India to do such kinda jobs?
Incident happened during May 5 2005
posted by aruna at 1:12 PM
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