Slice of life-dignity of labour

PushpavalliSrinivasan · Oct 21, 2010

Dignity of labor

Last week, after a long time my hubby went for his haircut. Being an extrovert he had a chat with the barber. He inquired with him as to why the old man who used to attend to him could not be seen. The man replied that he was the owner of the saloon and had had a heart attack for which he had undergone bypass surgery and was recuperating in the hospital.
Then my hubby asked him how he had managed money for the surgery as nowadays the medical expenses were very high.

The man replied that his two sons were well educated and were earning more than two lakhs a month. Further the old man himself was an assistant manager in Honda Company. My hubby was surprised to hear this. A man working in a company as manager is still doing his hereditary job. Can any one believe this? It shows the man’s simplicity and his belief in dignity of labour.

Gandhiji believed in dignity of labour. He even used to clean the toilets when he was in South Africa. He had made a pair of chappals for General Smut when he was in jail at South Africa.

Present younger generation seems to have a stigma towards menial work. Children studying in schools and colleges are reluctant to reveal their parents’ occupation if they are into some low level manual jobs. They think their friends would belittle them.

Young men are choosy about their jobs too. They would not mind sitting at home if they get a job which they think is below their dignity or not catering to their educational qualification.

A son of my friend who holds a B.E. degree is sitting at home for more than a year now, saying that he would not take up a BPO job even temporarily and wait until he gets a good job with a high pay scale. This is also a reason for unemployment in our country.

Most of the young working girls think it is below their dignity to do household chores like sweeping, mopping, cleaning vessels, cooking etc. They engage domestic help for doing all these things. When the domestic help takes leave the house is in shambles.

Children look down upon maids and treat them badly. Parents should inculcate the dignity of labour in their minds and make them understand that no job is inferior as long as the person performs it honestly and devotedly. They should be taught "Work is Worship."

Kamalji · Oct 21, 2010

Dear Pushpa,

i agree with u fully.

Work is worship, i beleive.and if u wrok it saves u money.Let me give u an example.

I am an exporter of garments, we manyufature garments for export.
We receive cloth, it comes in a pack of 70 to 80 meters one Than as we call it.

Every 100 cms makes a meter. So suppose 10,000 meters come to my office at one time, very normal.So i pick one Thann at random, sit down on the floor, take a measuring tape, and measure the folds.Now it is the practice of the suppliers to give us 98 cms to a meter, it is a common practice.Fine.

When i measure, most of the times themeasures are 95 or 96 cms.i call the supplier, he sends his man, and when he measures, he says ok sir, cut 2 or 3 percent from the Bill.

Now suppose the fabric is for 40/- a meter, that makes it worth of the goods at 4 lakhs, and that 2 % works out to 8000 rupees, and it takes just 5 minutes to sit on the floor and measure just one Thann.

My staff, well u know how they are careless, so when i spoil my trousers, and spend 5 mintues and can save 8000 or 12000 , does not labour save me money ?

Even if i was the employee i would do it, what ios the shame in it.When we can do the dirty job of cleaning our backsides, is this worse than that ?

Yes i see the same attitiued these days everywhere, u have rightly pointed out a very good thing, the youngsters must learn that there is no shame in labour, better to work at less pay than to sit idle.

Regards

kamal

Mindian · Oct 21, 2010

dear pushpa mam,

hope you are doing fine.?
I agree with you totally.I too know of 2 young girls who have completed their eng and are apparently waiting for the " right " job.shouldnt they take the first job they have been offered in this frightfully low economy?,I wondered
but one thing good about staying away from India is we all have learnt to clean our toilets really clean .:biglaugh.

prana · Oct 21, 2010

Mam,

yes yes you are 100% correct....I just salute that old man.Really he is doing a great job....

It is in the parents hand,who need to teach their children atleast some moral values of life....sadly we lack here...:bonk

Arunarc · Oct 21, 2010

Dear Pushpa
It is a real surprise about the barber. You have written such a good post.
Yes you shouldn't be ashamed to do any job that is in front of you. I too have a friend whose son did his engg and still sitting at home with out a job, just becoz whichever job he has got it doesn't suit him the best.
When you don't have experience to do small jobs how can you expect to get the top most level job at the very 1st attempt??
You can reach the top only with your experiences. It is very difficult to make today's generation understand such things.

Raba · Oct 21, 2010

Dear Pushpa mam,

Very well Said. I couldnot agree more.

Hats off to that old man. Not many people may act like that..

I do think that it is the responsibility of the parents to induce the behaviour of respecting the maids. I know in my town, in some houses, whatever age the maids are, the children there, address them by their names , though I did not see anything like that in chennai till now.

Thoughtful post pushpa mam:cheers

kanaka Raghavan · Oct 21, 2010

Dear Puspha Ma'am
Very thoughtful post.Thanks for posting.Many people think it is below their dignity to get into any job.One of former servant's daughter refused to help her mother in her work in my house as she thought it was below her dignity to do such jobs.The children should be taught to treat servants well at very young age.It is sad to see many youngsters ill treating them.

Sriniketan · Oct 21, 2010

Hats off to that man. You said it right Pushpavalli ma'am...Work is worship..

sriniketan

PushpavalliSrinivasan · Oct 22, 2010

Dear Kamalji,
I am happy to receive your first fb and I thank you for the same. From your posts I have understood that you are a practical man and your way of doing things is admirable. Soiling the pants is a good idea than Losing thousands of rupees. Nowadays workers are not dependable and so we have to be alert.
love,
PS

Kamalji said: ↑

Dear Pushpa,

My staff, well u know how they are careless, so when i spoil my trousers, and spend 5 mintues and can save 8000 or 12000 , does not labour save me money ?

Even if i was the employee i would do it, what ios the shame in it.When we can do the dirty job of cleaning our backsides, is this worse than that ?

Yes i see the same attitiued these days everywhere, u have rightly pointed out a very good thing, the youngsters must learn that there is no shame in labour, better to work at less pay than to sit idle.

Regards

kamal
Click to expand...

PushpavalliSrinivasan · Oct 22, 2010

Dear Mindi,
I am fine and thank you for your concern.It seems the present younger generation is too ambitious and without any experience they want to take home a heavy purse. Even parents are not able to convince them.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts,
Love,
PS