VIP tickets & Illusion of Equality
An everyday festival moment that reveals how fragile our idea of equality really is.
Yesterday, I went to pandal hopping since Ganapati bappa is here. You would be surprised the efforts taken and the creativity? I was in awe. But there are few which are extra creative and hyped too. So, there is the longest line I can imagine. And the person I’m, I hate standing in queues (I guess no one enjoys it particularly). So, there is this whole lot of people waiting for their turn and we purchased VIP tickets, and we were out in no time. You’d be surprised by what my first thought was post this. Beautiful? sure. But I was thinking is there really going to be the world of Equality we talk about all the time? Because here I chose money and comfort. Who stops to think about fairness and equality when convenience is calling?
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This isn’t about festival lines definitely. We love to talk about Equality and fairness but the moment it interferes with our convenience or privilege; principles quietly take a backseat. Whether it is playing extra for a shortcut, connections to skip a line, backdoor to a job through references, money consistently tilts the playing field. We do try to do the right thing. But comfort silently persuades otherwise.
JUDGEMENTAL — one of the trending words I can say. People use it more often than ever. Every person claims to be non-judgemental. But, in the most “modern” circles, caste and class judgements still linger. Education definitely hasn’t erased them. But now people know how to dress them up in polite words. How much ever educated you might be, doesn’t matter what position you hold in a company, people are judged based on where they belong, what caste, what’s their class in the society, sometimes on the face subtle and at times behind their backs.
Maybe the problem isn’t that we don’t believe in Equality. We do, only when it doesn’t cost us our own comfort. Walking past the queues yesterday, VIP ticket in my hand, I understood Equality sounds noble on a paper, in discussions, but in practice, it often gets left behind. waiting in the queues.
👉 What’s the one thing you’ve experienced recently that made you pause and question the world we live in?
