Something to Laugh About.....

Here is something that is a really funny read...so, obviously it's not my creation...but it served the purpose and made me smile at a time when I was finding smiles becoming quite costly ......

The Pastor's Ass

The pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won. The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered in another race and it won again.
The local paper read:

PASTOR'S ASS OUT FRONT.

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the pastor not to enter the donkey in any more races.
The next day the local paper headline read:

BISHOP SCRATCHES THE PASTOR'S ASS.

This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the pastor to get rid of the donkey. The pastor decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent.
The local paper, hearing of the news, Posted the following headline:

NUN HAS THE BEST ASS IN TOWN.

The Bishop fainted. He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey so she sold it to a farmer for $10.
The next day the headlines read:

NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.

This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the high plains where it could run free.
The next day the headlines read:

NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE.

Alas ... The Bishop was buried the next day.

MORAL OF THE STORY???
Being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and misery and even shorten your life. So, be yourself and enjoy life!!

Stop worrying about everyone else's ass and you'll live longer !!!!

house help

Some time ago, someone very close to me remarked about the number of people that me and my family keep.... and how this kind of "servitude" was totally unacceptable in a society like.... the U.S., lets say. Needless to say, given my nature of getting easily swayed(or sensitive) by the words of people close to me, I found myself thinking whether the people who worked for my family in the house for as long as I can remember, are better off without this "servitude". I recall the day when my father was still in the service and reached one of the higher posts for which I can defiantly say he worked hard for..... our house was filled with a retinue of people... ranging from a washer man to a sweeper to cooks to guards and all that. I guess a lot of people who are not used to that would be either wistful at not having such luxury or cringe at the thought of so many people being under the "tyranny" of one. I think that is what some of my marxist friends would decipher... that I come from the family which can not live without the help of the lesser privileged. And that should all these just disappear we would falter. What I am going to attempt through this post is to be somehow lay my thoughts on the matter and of course there is going to be some amount of defiance and justification on my part but for the most part I am going to try and be neutral. These thoughts of mine are in no coherent or particular order.

I have gone through the period when me or family have not the least bit of help and we have coped. And coped well. But I ask myself... why should I feel guilty if I and my family have and want people to work for us? Does that mean I or any of us for that matter who have kept house help have no concept of dignity in labour? Let me try and see if I can break what I am feeling about all this and whether I can come up with arguments, not to counteract my friend who said that to me but, rather for me to tell this to anyone else who might even assume that the reason I keep house help is because we have no dignity in labour or that we like making use of people for our comforts. I think a lot of families in India keep house help or employ the services of people outside the mainstream of white collar jobs or routine gainful employment. And I think maybe quite a few families in the U.S also employ house help if they can afford it .... but whether they are judged on the basis of that, is something I am not concerned with. I think it boils down to the simple logic that if it is affordable most of the people would take the chance of having someone to help in the chores of maintaining a home.

What I find annoying is the assumption that people might make that, JUST because a family has house help they have no concept of dignity of labour and how it might be if they had to clean their own bathrooms. Lets talk about the scenario in US or other so called developed nations. I am taking a guess when I say that a lot of people would definitely want house help...... its just that it is expensive. I guess they don't need someone to sweep their house because almost every American household has a vacuum cleaner. I don't have a vacuum cleaner. and I know many who don't. In addition, come to think of it, most of the households in more developed and systematic countries have a screened in house, which is to say, they have very less dust or grime coming in, for which most families I know of, keep a maid in the first place. To clean the house! Because most housing so far does not provide for a system of keeping most part of dust out. Seems like a very flimsy statement to make.... but taking my example....I live in one of the most dustiest cities in the world and despite all my efforts I have lost the battle of the dust! And thus I have a maid to mop and clean. The Armed Services, the Civil Services and all other Government Services provide employment to lakhs as support staff. It is of course a misfortune that qualified people sometimes end up doing manual jobs, but that is a serious flaw which does not have a solution that can emerge by waving a wand or by engaging in rhetorics that we are engaging them in an undesirable employment. But just to keep our focus on domestic help, many unemployed throng to these jobs, not out of their desire to serve but to have a secure job. They are guaranteed three square meals a day and a place above their heads.

Are we not providing these people with a better choice then beggary or something lower? I mean, yes, of course there is a failure in the system, if it has not been able to bring up everyone equally and distribute resources equitably. But, then, hey, if we had all the solutions for people misery and their problems, we would not be known as a developing nation. But then again, developed societies are not misery free zones. They just have a better infrastructural capacity. Are we promoting "servitude" among the lesser privileged?? What is a better choice? Not provide them even the chance to earn their keep by providing them work in the nature of domestic work which would keep them off the streets, or let them fend for themselves, either though selling their bodies, begging or taking up arms. I also wish that they have a better job, sit in AC rooms like us and do better things then wield a broom, or clean vessels. But, till that happens, we live in a symbiotic relationship. And it works well to some extent.

We are also providing services albeit in an AC room. We serve our higher ups while they order us about. The huge population of call centre professionals serve myriad clientèle and earn their share of hypocrisy and discrimination at the hands of foreign clientèle. A construction worker of a freeway is also doing the most difficult manual labour in the service or "servitude"of the society. Most professions have their scope of work written down and defined, while the profession of house help has it own orally defined area for which remuneration is given. So, then, I wonder, where is there a servitude? Yes, they work as household help because of lack of choice! Given a choice most of us would want to do no work while we still get paid, or work in a place/profession which is our hearts deepest desire or be ones own master. I would love to work in a fashion house or in the media, or run a successful book lounge of my own, but some of us don't get our hearts desire either because of lack of will and hard work or because of lack of opportunity. And I feel quite earnestly, that, by employing house help, we are providing them a small window of opportunity for them to reach where they might want to. Maybe its a Utopian thought on my part to feel that they are being helped, but then its even more Utopian to think that there should never be a need for people to work as domestic help. For my part, I am ready to mop my bathroom any time, cook any time, clean any time. Then, in that case, hear ye all who come to my house, kindly excuse the haphazardness and messiness!!!