As election season rages on, our Supreme Leader has added the title of "Chowkidar" (Watchman) to his name on Twitter. This act has deservedly earned a lot of ridicule. But, today I was watching a clip of a stand-up comedian taking a dig at the Supreme Leader by pointing out similarities between chowkidars and Narendra Modi, mainly how lazy and incompetent they both were.
I always feel uncomfortable when members of the middle- or upper classes complain or joke about the perceived laziness or unprofessionalism of the blue-collar service class, like maids, drivers, watchmen, etc. We pay them third-world wages and expect first-world levels of service and professionalism. The difference between white-collar and blue-collar service wages in India is staggering, and it is this difference that allows upper middle-class families to employ a phalanx of maids, drivers, bearers, etc. Life in a city is rendered bearable by this arm of underpaid labour.
Maybe I am being too harsh. But, I have found that living in India as an upper-caste, upper middle class male is a endless series of moral conundrums and guilt trips. When one lives here, one learns to unsee these conundrums because otherwise life would become an unbearable train of existential guilt and angst.
However, the least we can do is not punch down on the people trying to eke out a meagre living by using them as a vehicle to punch up at the Supreme Leader. The Leader has a countless number of faults but being crass and unpolished is not one of them. Out of all the assaults he has carried out on the country and the people over the past few years, the assault on urban middle-class sensibilities matters the least.
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