Empathy and Awareness - A BTS Perspective

Have you ever looked twice at the old man selling balloons at the signal on your way home? Do you remember haggling with the vegetable seller for those few extra rupees? Have you ever asked your house-help how they are doing, and how their family is faring?

Today, the world faces an unprecedented crisis – a crisis, that however, has been extremely disparate in its effects. Our nation went into lockdown together, but the effect that it had on society was vastly different – segregated by class and socio-economic status. While a vast majority of us spent our lockdowns in the comfort of our homes, honing our hobbies (or perhaps, doing some baking – banana bread, anyone?), a vast majority of the Indian population was not as fortunate. We all saw the news, and heard the harrowing stories of the migrants that attempted to go home – stories of hardship and hunger, with the underlying common factor of poverty. It is no secret that the poor were affected more due to the lockdown. Since most of their livelihoods were based on daily wage employment, or employment at wealthier households, they were left with no work, and in a lot of cases, with no income coming in. Think about your house-help, your gardeners, the office boys, factory workers, and other blue-collared employees such as them who were unable to earn their living during the lockdown. Since these people hail from families where they are amongst the main breadwinners, making ends meet became increasingly difficult – a reality that we, whose lockdowns were not fraught with survival struggles, often overlook and dismiss unknowingly. We know that poverty is an obstacle to the growth of our nation, but we often do not realise the gravity of the problem. To us, it is often a factual statement, supplemented by numbers and statistics that lack the empathy required to help us realise what a day in the lives of these people behind the scenes might actually look like.

We do not realise that the ten rupees that it might cost us to buy that balloon (which is something we do not need, but so is the new item of clothing that we just ordered online), or those vegetables, might mean a lot to the old man at the signal and to the vegetable seller. We have the liberty to take sick leaves at work, or unexcused absences from university lectures when we are not feeling well – but is our house-help afforded the same liberty and luxury? We never stop to think about the domestic or personal problems that our house-helper may be facing, despite which they turn up to do their jobs every day. This is where empathy comes in – we may know that unequal privilege skews development and growth, but we do not feel the impact that lack of privilege has on the people behind the scenes in our lives.

At Behind the Scenes, the inculcation of empathy amongst the more privileged sections of society is one of our main goals. We do not expect that everyone may have the means to provide financial or technical aid – we are university students ourselves, yet to earn our own money and learn the ways of the world. But, we do believe that little acts of kindness, born out of compassion and empathy, may go a long way towards attempting to bridge this chasm of privilege that exists between us and the people behind the scenes. However, we must be cognisant of the differences between sympathy and empathy - oftentimes manual labour is seen as lesser work, or a sort of bondage that needs to be escaped from. This thought process generates feelings of sympathy for those engaging in manual labour, leading to a romanticisation of the hardships and struggles that these workers face. Empathy, on the other hand, implies treating all forms of labour as equal - and treating the workers that engage in manual labour as our equals.

So, the next time that you see that old man at the signal – buy that balloon. The next time you see someone you know haggling with the vegetable seller – stop them and explain that they wouldn’t do the same in a mall. When your house-help enters your house in the morning – ask them how they are, and how their family is. It is only when we treat the people behind the scenes as our equals, can we ever attempt to bridge the gap of inequality – so foster conversations with them, and support them in any way that you can. After all, we depend on these people behind the scenes for the smooth functioning of our daily routine and what is of the essence is that we show them that we can be depended upon as well.