There is a song by Gurdaas Mann that goes, ‘Roti hak di khaiye ji, paanve boot polishan kariye’. (Earn your bread honestly even if it requires polishing boots.) It articulates the spirit of dignity of labour, very native to Punjabi and Sikh philosophy. However, it is easier said than done, because there exist everywhere eco-systems that consider one or the other lifestyles as desirable and, therefore, superior to what others do.
Take, for instance, the case of the thirty-five year old man who has just been nabbed for allegedly pretending to be a senior government official and defrauding people. The son of a former Chief Secretary, he appeared for the civil services exam several times but could not get through. Considering his background, he would surely have been able to get some other job not so hoity-toity, but enough to earn a decent living. Why did he not choose to do so? Very likely because he did not think any other occupation had the dignity and status that he had experienced second-hand as a senior bureaucrat’s son. So, he created a pretend world in which he behaved like a big shot and even exploited others to make money. Surely, if he could act so well, he could have joined the world of theatre or films? If only!
This is not the only such case that has been reported. Quite obviously it is a malaise that exists deep in society’s general psyche. It obviously comes from a general disdain for work of a ‘lower kind’, which actually symptomizes failure. Consider the outrage that is expressed whenever there is news of children being asked to do physical work, clean their classrooms or toilets in some school. It is considered some sort of abuse or torture. It exposes the thinking that work of this kind, even if it is done for one’s own benefit, is sub-par. When such a culture exists, it is only natural for it to be further refined by young people thinking they have an inherited right to status that their parents or grandparents enjoyed.
This, of course, is different from having a passion for a certain profession. However, one’s immediate environment should help differentiate between pursuing a passion and just being interested in the benefits a career provides. If one knows why one wishes to do something, one can find many other ways of doing it. One joins the civil services to serve the people, not because of the benefits that accrue. Otherwise, in the present day, even small time business persons earn more than a bureaucrat. It is the sincerity of purpose that counts, Gurdaas Maan is telling us.
