Trickle down effect of economic boom
We have been staying in the same colony for more than a decade. Though we have shifted residences within close proximity twice,the “service” providers continue to be the same , whether it be the newspaper vendor or the guy who cleans the car.
Decade is a reasonable time span for assessing the progress of families who are providing the “services”.
The newspaper vendor has not lost his throwing power. His assistants keep changing every now and then. Some do come back for a second innings of internship with the newspaper vendor. Nothing seems to have changed for the newspaper vendor as he has been using the same scooter. If he has a better vehicle, he must be using during broad light saving it from morning blues.
The decade has been spent with the services of three servant maids…. All of them have one thing in common… all of them have more than five children…. All of them have husbands who drink and vanish for days together.. . The only progress witnessed is their daughters getting married and suffering the same fate… There was another servant maid who served for the first few months when we landed in Delhi… She lost her husband subsequently ( he was a security guard in our colony ) and all her girls have grown up and they accompany their mother in the morning trudge from their dwelling and go to work in different houses.
The ironing chap…his two sons and daughter were in primary school in the year 2000… The girl did not finish school and married somebody not in Delhi…. The boys finished school and have become drivers...
The second ironing chap whom we have been forced to engage in recent times has a daughter attending college… That definitely is an achievement as the tendency is to marry off girls at a tender age...
The barber in the colony had to give up his shop as the rent was not affordable. He has been on “service on demand” mode for the past four years. You give a call on his mobile and he would turn up at your house and do the needful. I do not think he is doing well as people are reluctant to have this sort of work being done inside the confines / terraces of their dwellings.
The bunch of car cleaners have remained the same and have aged. They share their efficiency and productivity with their customers- whether it be an Audi, Sumo, Alto, Beat or Santro, they charge the same low rate. The larger the car they clean, more they get shouted at for deficiency in service. The income of this lot has not gone up as there is a limit to the number of cars they can handle in an hour and half. There has been an explosion in the number of cars in colony, thanks to economic boom.
The electricians, plumbers and carpenters in the colony continue to appear famished and wear old dresses the way they did a decade ago.
The economic boom and modern economic practice are supposed to benefit these “service providers” through trickle down effect over a period of time.
But the economy seems to be using a percolator without sieves !
Decade is a reasonable time span for assessing the progress of families who are providing the “services”.
The newspaper vendor has not lost his throwing power. His assistants keep changing every now and then. Some do come back for a second innings of internship with the newspaper vendor. Nothing seems to have changed for the newspaper vendor as he has been using the same scooter. If he has a better vehicle, he must be using during broad light saving it from morning blues.
The decade has been spent with the services of three servant maids…. All of them have one thing in common… all of them have more than five children…. All of them have husbands who drink and vanish for days together.. . The only progress witnessed is their daughters getting married and suffering the same fate… There was another servant maid who served for the first few months when we landed in Delhi… She lost her husband subsequently ( he was a security guard in our colony ) and all her girls have grown up and they accompany their mother in the morning trudge from their dwelling and go to work in different houses.
The ironing chap…his two sons and daughter were in primary school in the year 2000… The girl did not finish school and married somebody not in Delhi…. The boys finished school and have become drivers...
The second ironing chap whom we have been forced to engage in recent times has a daughter attending college… That definitely is an achievement as the tendency is to marry off girls at a tender age...
The barber in the colony had to give up his shop as the rent was not affordable. He has been on “service on demand” mode for the past four years. You give a call on his mobile and he would turn up at your house and do the needful. I do not think he is doing well as people are reluctant to have this sort of work being done inside the confines / terraces of their dwellings.
The bunch of car cleaners have remained the same and have aged. They share their efficiency and productivity with their customers- whether it be an Audi, Sumo, Alto, Beat or Santro, they charge the same low rate. The larger the car they clean, more they get shouted at for deficiency in service. The income of this lot has not gone up as there is a limit to the number of cars they can handle in an hour and half. There has been an explosion in the number of cars in colony, thanks to economic boom.
The electricians, plumbers and carpenters in the colony continue to appear famished and wear old dresses the way they did a decade ago.
The economic boom and modern economic practice are supposed to benefit these “service providers” through trickle down effect over a period of time.
But the economy seems to be using a percolator without sieves !
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