Saturday afternoon, As I walk into the MJ Mysore Road center, I see a bunch of kids eagerly clambering to organize the room, the materials and the books for the weekly Bala Janaagraha class. It was amazing to see their enthusiasm even after an exam and festival break of 3 weeks.
The conversation started while waiting for the facilitator to come in to take the civic awareness program for a bunch of children at MJ Mysore Road. So how did you do in your examinations. "They went well uncle!", the children echoed in unison. How was Eid and Dussehra. "It was a lot of fun uncle!!", again in Unison. "Didnt you keep any sweets for me?", I rued. The children confidently retorted, "But, you didnt come Uncle! and you didnt bring us any sweets!". Rightfully so, I was embarassingly quietened. However, I hastily added that I dont celebrate Eid or Dussehra at home. "We celebrate Deepavali at home!", I confidently responded proudly making a comeback into this war of festivals.
Then it hit me like a lightning bolt. "Then, you must be a Sethu!!", stated Arunkumar confidently. The reference was sharp, curt and was followed by peals of laughter by all the children. Sethu - is a term used for a businessman, usually someone who owns a shop - pawn broker, a jeweller, a local grocer. However, more derogatorily, it is used to describe a person who lends money to the poor at exhorbitant interest rates and makes the poor indebted to him lifelong.
I recomposed myself and asked "Why do you think I am sethu?". "Simple, because you celebrate Deepavali and only sethu's celebrate Deepavali." responded arunkumar continuing his confident tone. Interestingly, it was true in many senses. Deepavali is a time when businessmen close their books, workship their books and business assets and start a new year with new books and new fervour. It is the time when the rich businessmen dole out sweets and clothes to their employees, labourers and community. A time when they are most charitable, primarily because they might get more brownie points from God.
Coming from an extended business family where my uncles have been cloth merchants and traders for donkey's years and where I have been part of the deepavali celebrations at their shops as a young kid. I remember how people used to come to my uncle with folded hands and call him "Sethu, Sethji, lalaji" and he used to soak in this false pride of being their benefactor.
I looked around the room at each kid, and I could fathom the hundreds of stories being played out in their houses with the word "Sethu" as a central character. I could envision a poor mother of a child, pawming her last jewellery to a Sethu to feed her children, knowing fully well that it is probably the last she will see of her jewellery and yet hoping that Sethu would be trustworthy enough to keeps the accounts well and give the jewellery back to her when she has repayed the loan.
I could envision a poor father mortgaging his house to the Sethu to get money for a wedding in the family or to make that crucial investment in his loss-making business. The Sethu cunningly accepts everything, knowing fully well that once he has caught his prey, he will be feeding on him till the prey has been completed cleaned up.
I wonder what impression these children carried of a Sethu - Is it someone who just celebrates a festival like Deepavali or is there is deeper prejudice like the one I carry of a shark out to get his unsuspecting, vulnerable prey. I wonder how often they hear this term,"Sethu" at home - sometimes as a saviour, a generous loan-giver and sometimes as a cheat, a ruthless, heartless money-lender, a phython who can never be satiated.
The entire conversation was amidst a lot of fun, laughter and mirth but left a deep pain in me and I wondered if the Sethu in their life would ever go away with empowerment. Thinking back, It triggered a resolve in me to continue to do what I do as with empowerment, this children would grow up to walk out of the shadow of the Sethus in their life.
The facilitator walked in to conduct his session as I decided to take a walk around the area and on my way back got Dussehra sweets for all the children. Maybe, my unconscious way to improve the image of the "Sethu!"
Vishal
On Sat, 11th October 2008 at the MJ Mysore Road Center with children.
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