The Great Divide-An open letter to all

Let me tell you guys a story. A story which hit me hard and asked me to question my convictions.

My maid visits my house every other day to clean the mess which i accumulate in her absence. She is arguably the most hard-working individual i have met in a long time. For the last two weeks, she didn't turn up for work. She had informed me that her daughter was down with fever and that it wouldn't take her not more than a day or two to get back to work.

Yesterday vengat, my roommate,(this happened while i was in Chennai) met me on Google talk and said that our maid had returned . I was relieved. I was about to write something in praise of our maid and how we were blessed to have her when vengat wrote back- Ashwin, her 12 year old daughter is no more. I was stunned in despair. I went numb for five minutes.

This is what came to my mind in those five minutes-

Last week i was down with a bad stomach and i cribbed about not having the luxury of home food even though i ended up spending quite an sum day after day to satiate my hunger.Even for a muscle pull, i refused to do anything but to see the doctor my friend recommended.

This is not only the case with me but its the same with each one of you. We are too accustomed to luxury that we have taken things for granted.

Picture this, my maid thought a life threatening disease was nothing but a simple fever. She didn't have the wherewithal to take her daughter to a private hospital neither could the govt hospital treat her daughter properly. She probably wouldn't have heard the word insurance and i don't blame her for that- How do you expect her to pay a premium for something which might be beneficial for her in the future, a asset which doesn't give her daily returns.

At minute 6 i decided, i will let this happen again. We should not let this happen again.

Regards,
Ashwin Balachandran