Sitaram

We are reflecting back on Sitaram who we have spent the better part of 10 days with.  A quiet, proud man.  We speculate that he is a member of the Untouchable caste.  He is unfailingly polite and never asks for anything - one of the few people that doesn’t have an obvious angle.  At one point he confides his circumstances to SuperK: he has no education so no ability to find a better job.  We had assumed that his position as a driver was a good one when in fact he makes no salary - he’s dependent on tips - and none of his expenses are covered while he travels 7 months out of the year, facts that were unknown to us.  So the 3 months when the monsoons come and no one travels he has no cash flow.  It becomes obvious that this is one of the hard facts of overpopulation and undereducation: this guy is eminently replaceable.  It reminds me of books I’ve read talking about The States during the beginning of the Industrial Age: if you were hurt or couldn’t keep up or perceived as a troublemaker you were out the door just like that.

When our time with him comes to an end he hugs both of us warmly and we demand, over and over, that he gets an email sent to us through a friend as he has no computer.  It almost seems as if it was very difficult for him to even pass along his contact information.

We talk about this, SuperK and me.  We talk about sending him some money from time to time.  We may or may not do this, to be honest about it - the logistics of this won’t be easy and that’s IF he contacts us at all - but it may be that the reason for our trip was to be put into a position to help someone who could really use the help.

Now: Actions or just talk?