I was returning home from a volunteering mission at an NGO a
few weeks back with my friend Albert, and we shared a taxi. As you might know, taxis
are available these days at the touch of a button, and we used an app to get
one. The taxi was waiting at the pick up location even before we arrived, and
as we were heading home, an informal conversation sparked up among the three of
us.
Albert, who is also a staff of the NGO, just asked the
driver about the app, how much money he earned using it, and other stuff. The way
the driver responded to us was really amusing. It was during Pongal holidays, one of the traditional Indian
harvest festivals that this incident happened, and most people were on their
vacation. Sadly, corporate firms in India are treating their employees as
slaves, and not many get to enjoy their holidays.
“I was bored at home”, the driver said, in response to our
question. “Actually, I did not want to drive during Pongal, but since I was
bored, I just logged in to the app. I received your booking, so I came”. We asked how long he had been
driving for a living, and his answer was again astonishing.
“I have been driving for more than 10 years, but I don’t
just drive. I own around 6 vehicles, and I have my own Travels firm. I bought
two cars recently and I use them to drive for this app. But my main business is
real estate.”
I was quite shocked. It seemed he earned more than 1500
rupees per day, and he also got an incentive of 2000 rupees if he made 10 trips.
On an average he earned 2000 to 3000 rupees per day just driving. Apart from
this, he had income from other sources as well. Real estate brokers definitely
earn in Lakhs of Indian rupees. So I was guessing that his monthly income would
definitely be more than 5 Lakhs, could say even 10. I did not bother to ask him
though.
My friend got down at his destination and I was directing
the driver to my house. While all this was happening, I had this thought
running in mind. Well, I spent more than 5 Lakhs for my college education, all
to earn a worthless engineering degree, which very well served as an identity
to be a slave of the corporate world. The best salary I could get was 600
rupees a day, while the question of getting a job itself is highly unanswerable,
leave alone employee benefits. Most of us think that going to a day job in a corporate
firm, with a Louis Philippe shirt and Allen Solly pants is the best way to earn
money. There are many reasons behind this. Dignity, insecurity, family
situations, the qualifications for getting married, etc. are quite a few.
As we were nearing our destination, (my house), I kept
wondering if we are blindfolded by the concept of education. There used to be a
T Shirt which had this quote on it: “I
was born Intelligent, but Education Spoiled Me.” Well, that is the stark reality of today. A tea shop owner earns
10 times the money an IT professional earns. A mechanic earns 20 times money a
mechanical engineer would earn. But, they are not afraid to get their hands
dirty. Being self employed is hard, it is not easy to earn money quickly, but
once you are established, you get your complete share. We have spent so much
money on education, that we have made the founders of these colleges and
schools ‘millionaires and billionaires’, but in turn, we become a slave. Higher
education to the power of higher education (to make it worse).
As the cab took the final turn towards my house, I mustered
up some courage to ask the driver.
“Don’t mistake me, but how much have you studied?”. His answer was very instant, and he smiled
wittingly.
“SSLC Fail”.
Soooper Kemmy
ReplyDeleteVery true..
Thanks a lot :)
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