Ubering in Delhi

personal

As I take an Uber from home to CP, avoiding even the Metro which is pretty close to where I am going, just to avoid the August heat and humidity, I feel a sense of deja vu.

I have been here before. Sitting in an AC cab. While poor, half naked, dirty children play alongside open drains or near heaps of trash. What did they do to deserve this life? What can I do to help? Why do I always forget about them once I go back to my comfortable house in sunny California?

At this moment, the misguided and immature memo by an obliviously privileged Googler is causing immense hurt and drama all across Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, these kids and their mothers are wondering what to eat and where to shit with dignity.

I have seen their plight growing up here. I get reminded of this every year. And yet, apart from donating some money to charity from time to time, I don’t do much more. Worse, I get caught up in my own comparatively trivial issues so much that I forget.

If I forget, who will remember?