What a ‘Class’ic hypocrisy!

Kajal Chatterjee

10 years ago, my father was going through a severe neurological problem resulting in a major fall.

Under the leadership of the "Muslim" Dr. Ahmed, my "Hindu" father was successfully operated upon (though religious identity of the Doctor to my father is irrelevant in this context, still it demands stress to lodge protest against Islamophobia).

Due to obvious after-effects of the major operation, my father had to go through post-operative care for several months. No kudos is enough for the sincere efforts of the physiotherapist who revived the body of my father.

But how can I forget the unfathomable service of the 2 Ayahs who had cared my bed-ridden father for months! Yes, those two middle-aged women hailing from economically poor humble families had given their best through utmost sincerity and devotion.

Yes, just like any office or family, the society also runs with effort and cooperation of all irrespective of their economic or social status! No work, no profession is "Greater" or "Smaller" provided the work gets accomplished in honest way. So my father got up at his feet thanks to the contribution of all right from Dr. Ahmed to the Ayahs.

Any office assignment requires signature of the highest official. While the signed letters documents can be sent to concerned offices through email also, but special cases demand production of physical documents as well like Service Book during process of Pension cases.

Now such sensitive and crucial documents get physically transported to the concerned offices by the Group D staff.

Yes the fact remains that an office successfully runs on the contribution of personnel right from the top to the bottom in official social economic hierarchy!

Now as far as salary perks cars etc are concerned, the high or highest officials may enjoy infinite times more privilege than those at the bottom in this class-based society; but as far as basic human rights are concerned, the highest official is at par with the lowest personnel. Yes, just like accessibility to toilet and water are ensured for all employees in office irrespective of designation or salary; similarly nobody holds any moral Constitutional democratic or legal right to slap either any Chief engineer or Peon!

Similarly the basic human right of the murdered young Doctor in Kolkata to live can never be an iota greater than the maid dwelling in shanties! Yes privileged "educated" class are so selfish and bereft of minimum empathy that they can't feel the pain of the marginalised fellow citizens who get sexually assaulted every hour and now getting refused medical treatment thanks to the "protesting" Doctors!

What a class-obsessed society without an iota of empathy for the downtrodden section of the society who form the base upon which the edifice of privileged are standing ‘gallantly’! Yes the whole society would simply crumble to pieces without the unsung contribution of the honest sincere drivers, maids, security guards, plumbers, electricians, sweepers, cooks, garbage collectors, vendors, constables lying ‘lower down" the order!

Had the murdered girl been "ordinary" caregiver or housemaid and in protest her professional comrades boycotted their workplaces and created chaos on the streets through blockades and slogans day in and day out; would the "conscientious" brigade among the privileged have been seen to join the agitation, support the "movement" not only morally, but also serve the "underclass" protestors with deluge of fruits snacks lavish food packets and truckloads of mineral water.

Elitism and class consciousness at its worst.