The Mathematics that the Poor are Never Taught

When was the last time you asked someone for help with money? I don’t recollect such an incident. If such a need had arrived, I would have definitely cut down the requirement, which entailed me to seek help money-wise. But this is not the case I observed with poor people.

The Habit of Debt

I have a house help named Ratna. She walks in every morning with a smile, but behind that smile is a ledger of borrowed rupees and unpaid hopes. She always has the need to take money in advance and get it deducted in installments from her salary. It is like a habit to live life in debt.

The Cost of Celebration

She doesn’t buy for herself. Her joy comes from feeding others, celebrating life’s milestones, even when the cost is borrowed. She spends money on festivals, feeding relatives for the birth of her grandchild, buying a phone for her unemployed boys, buying a dress for her 19-year-old married daughter who left studies to get married at the age of 16, and has two children by now.

I have not seen her spending on herself or for the cause, which will be like an investment in long-term return. Like the education of her two unemployed boys, skill training of unemployed girl child, starting a small-scale business for herself, so that she can come out of the cycle of poverty. Her investments are in frivolous spending of buying things and organizing functions to feed relatives, and celebrate festivals.