Chain ki Neend

Getting groceries on a Sunday evening & some random thoughts.

It's Sunday evening. One of the most boring parts of the week. The scent of Monday has already crept into the atmosphere. I'm out to buy some groceries. We don't have a 'chotu' at our place who can be sent out to bring 'anda bread', so I have to do it by myself.

I see people, most of whom are returning to their respective boring lives after a Sunday. But strangely, I don't see complaints on their faces. Perhaps they've accepted the boredom of living and made their peace with this, and ironically doing this appears to have set them free from the boredom. I don't know, these are just some strange theories my mind comes up with.

A couple with a young kid walked past me. The father was carrying a small stool and a broom, wrapped in a plastic bag. The mother is carrying a bag whose contents appeared to be some basic household articles. The kid was just holding his mother's hand and trying to keep up with the pace of the parents. Their appearance tells us that they're not a middle-class family. They're from a class lower than the 'lower middle class', but a little above the poor. My mind says I shouldn't be judging people from their appearance, but the other part of my mind argues that just ignoring what is obvious and can be seen clearly, is simply hypocrisy of our 'ideal world'.

They moved ahead with their pace, without noticing the random stranger who kept thinking about them. The first question that hits my mind is, were they happy? Happy in a way how we've been told that 'paise nahi hai to kya, chain ki neend to hai'. I wonder how they'd be sleeping? Would they have a bed or their bedding would be arranged on the floor? And before sleeping, would they be thinking about the school fees of their younger child or the increasing prices of petrol and hence the increasing prices of household goods? Would they be cribbing about Monday?

I'm sure people are having bigger problems than mine, problems that I can possibly never imagine. Think of the people whose livelihood was sustained by selling things in the local trains of Bombay or the photographers at the gateway of India. I don't know if they'd have the aforementioned 'chain' while they sleep or if the ‘sleep’ would be just tired helplessness?

Have we romanticised poverty? I think so, and it's such an insensitive thing anyone can ever do. By glorifying the suffering and hardships, we've simply invalidated their tough lives and the strength that keeps them going. It is also possible, that this romanticism has helped them face the difficulties of life, by creating a delusion of a 'chain ki neend', which the rich apparently does not have for some reason. Again, these are just my hypotheses.

But why am I thinking all these? I have to buy things for dinner, which will help me have a 'chain ki neend', probably. I should probably get going, my random thoughts are going to help no one.