Remembering the unsung martyrs of the battlefield of Life...

I read with significant interest about the recent felicitation of Shri Sachin Tendulkar at the Ambani residence, on completing 20 glorious years donning the Indian cap and bringing boundless laurels to the nation. The man has scaled peaks that only a few - indeed none perhaps - can match. That he gets the due recognition is only fair and who better than Sh Mukesh Ambani to do the honors.

Of course Times Of India did its bit by felicitating Sh Tendulkar by running pages after pages singing paens to the legend. All this is pretty heart warming - no doubt about it.

Reading and reflecting on the story however I could not help but think about the countless unsung heroes whom no one cares to think about much less felicitate. Bread winners of small families who go about slogging the daily grind - fighting the crowds, facing the jeers, wading through difficulties only to ensure that fodder for the fire ever brewing in the stomach is provided for. Do they deserve recognition? People living on the sidelines. A few days back, on one of the traffic signals in Mumbai - I saw an old beggar - who seemed to be mentally ill with hair tied in multitudes of dried knots - reflecting as it were the staid reality of his wretched existence - his eyes were dim as he carelessly looked about; suddenly cars behind me started honking and I realized that the signal had turned green making the fellows behind me restless - perhaps I had pondered a second too long --- who cares?

The other day, as I was brushing my teeth - I had in a fit of absent-mindedness left the tap open - only seconds later came the blinding realization of the water crisis looming around us. I immediately closed the tap. I realized that there are countless fellow human beings for whom water is a luxury only to be rivaled by Sachin's Ferrari or the 800 Cr Boeing Jet which Mukesh Ambani presented Mrs Ambani on the latter's birthday. My heart pounds at these inequalities - I do not know its genesis. I fail to understand.

Mirza Ghalib's lines come to my mind - Sab kahan kucch laala-o-gul mein numaya ho gayeen
khaak mein kya soorate hongi jo pinha ho gayeen

True to his wit - he must have been appalled too at the gross inequalities around him. Not everyone gets the fame or recognition. Indeed many lose their will to fight at all. But one thing is for sure. Everyone needs recognition. A little word of praise can work wonders on the human pysche. But what we all are subjected to is nothing short of daily humiliation. Sadly we get humiliated and humiliate others in turn. What is Dharma afterall? Do unto others as you would expect others to do unto you. Simple. But this simple concept fails our understanding every moment. Given as we are to facing injustices and grinding realities of life - who has the time to ponder over such high-falutin useless postulates.

I write this article for those who fight it out every moment of their waking lives and go unheard and unsung. To the mother who teaches her child to read and write. To the father who wakes up daily at 5 Am to go to work. To the sister who prays for the well-being of her brother. To the wife who stands by her husband come hail come storm. They may not get the recognition they deserve - perhaps only a few ever will. This is not to cast innuendos on those lucky few who do get it. They are perhaps more equal in the eyes of the Lord - more equal than all other equals; as Ghalib puts it - not all become famous - many more such people who could have are languishing in dust!

Such is life and such are its laws and rules. Let's raise a toast to the survivors and remember those who couldn't survive the ordeal. Perhaps they will in their next lives.