Simplicity. And Aspirations. And self.

Sometimes I realise how vast the gap between me and my neighbours in the village is ... In so many different ways.

To me that most of my travelling, as far as possible, is by cycle, is an important anchor point. Just a small peg to hold on to. As a symbol. Of an attempt to simplify.

Kumar came home the other day. One of my children. He was in class 3 when I moved to the village in my twenties. Fourth child in a landless family. He has struggled his way up. Worked hard. Stayed focused in a peer group of village youth. A group that has largely lost direction in a bewildering new world that has no space for them. Those at the tail end of this land

Kumar has recently acquired a bike. A very expensive bike. Blue and gleaming. Which he is very proud of. Which he told he all his friends request a quick ride on. I could not but be happy sharing his happiness. Though our frameworks of aspiration are different.

I understood some things more clearly that day.

To be privileged is to seek to simplify. To reduce some if the trappings indicative of our exploitative status. At least at token levels, when one lacks the courage to go the whole way. And to build up.

To have been unprivileged is to seek the trappings to assert oneself.

One understands the different positions of The Mahatma. And Ambedkar. Both honest. In their own contexts

Sumanaspati That's right and very well stated : 
"To be privileged is to seek to simplify. To reduce some if the trappings indicative of our exploitative status. At least at token levels, when one lacks the courage to go the whole way. And to build up.
To have been unprivileged is to seek the trappings to assert oneself." But also very obviously that's how power and cosumerism manifest as cultural moorings and trappings!

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  Aparna Krishnan And we need to proceed together in common understanding, and faith.