Cold Comfort

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Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments,embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour - John Boswell

Winter is a season to philosophise about life. All those conversations that fill the time while we sip our numerous cutting-chai makes one think and ponder more than one does in the simmering summers. After all what sort of philosophy could one do while eating ice cream and drinking lemonade? In winters though, for the few hours when the sunlight sparkles, often a bunch of people gather around the tea stove and begin conversing, forming a cozy little intellectual hub that disperses once the rounds of chai are finished. But as thoughts often do, they linger in your mind much after they have been spelt out.

One such thought has persisted in my mind for the last couple of days. It goes like- why do some of us 'feel' for the poor and others don't. This is true even when the set of people belong to roughly the same background and share similar lifestyles. Why are some people inclined more charitably towards the 'needy' while others are simply not bothered? It so happened that I was standing with some of my colleagues when someone raised the issue of the zero-degree temperature in Delhi and said how unfortunate are those who don't have access to hot water in winters. Though initially everyone reacted with a tch-tch and 'oh god, how terrible', within minutes a clear division emerged in the group. One chai-comrade started by complaining that sometimes even he doesn't get hot water at home; you see his immersion rod doesn't work particularly on Mondays. The point: One doesn't die if you don't get hot water, after all people managed for centuries before they had their first hot-shower. Another bloke jumped in to add a little 'realism' to the whole argument. In our country people don't get water, what to say of hot or cold, he asserted sarcastically. Concerns about hot-water are just a middle class thing you see. But before he could complete a young lady butted in,'Have you ever tried bathing in cold water?' Without a pause she continued with a long lament of how 'insensitive' we all have become. I noticed that almost everyone had a position that was either pro or anti hot-water-for-all idea.

I somehow found myself supporting those who suggested that hot-water in zero degree winters is a necessity, not a luxury as some suggested and should be provided for just like any other basic amenity. Before the discussion could to go somewhere, we dispersed; you see the chai rounds were over. But the thought persisted in my mind and hence I write.

Essentially everybody's first reaction was the same. A mix of pity and shock. But I fail to understand why we ended up with so divided an opinion by the end of our conversation. Since all of us, I assume its true for the readers of this article too, have atleast a bucketful of warmth every morning, why do we have such a divided opinion about the importance of this need/luxury in our lives? Is there a class factor here? Am I promoting a socialist ideal when I say hot-water-for-all or am I being an elitist by tch-tching the condition of the have-nots of this hot commodity? Why do some of my friends take a more libertarian view that goes like - if giving everyone else hot water means getting fewer buckets for those who can afford more then why should we promote it. And then there are those philanthropic souls who want to give their share of hot water to those who perhaps need it more then they do. The more I think the more I feel that this divide doesn't exist just over a bucket of hot water, but over many issues perhaps over every resource available to us.

Some of us want more cars and better cars. Others argue for fewer cars and more public transport. Some say the luxury and privacy one enjoys in a car can never be matched by the public transport. Others suggest that if everyone drives around in a car than it will leave us with no space in our cities and perhaps no fuel to run those vehicles. The question then; who is to decide? Is the Government to take the final call? But we have seen that elected representatives themselves are often just as divided over these issues as the public that elects them. One Government promotes public transport; another comes and subsidizes car purchase. Somehow the lawmakers don't represent any collective vision on behalf of the society. Rather they seem to thrive on the divisions that exist among the people over every issue, from public transport to public ownership of hot water.

I am not here to pose what-is-to-be-done scenario. The question I want to pose is; are we as a society far more divided than we can afford to be. Despite the democracy in the country are we making fewer collective choices about our future? Is everyone deciding for his or her own 'private-Nano-future' while the planning for the 'Public-shared-future' is left to an abstract higher power? Are these choices available equally to everybody or are a few individual sitting at the high tables calling all the shots? I am not sure what we were like in the past, but what is the collective vision for the times to come?

Everytime we thank our stars for having something that millions others don't, like that bucket of hot water in our bathroom, aren't we accepting what is essentially just cold comfort? Perhaps the bathroom is not the best area to look for answers to such questions but it might be a good place to begin with.