Amidst all the talk of shit on this forum, I don't know how many people noticed this item.
http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=4685&cid=26 > Two labourers meet tragic end in septic tank > BY HERALD REPORTER > > PANJIM, NOV 24 – Two labourers, who were employed to clean a > septic tank of a building in Taleigao, met a tragic death on > Friday, even as the police said they are investigating who > employed these men for the job. Police gave the names of the > deceased as Mujju Aziz Shaikh, 27 and Zamir Gounshuddin Shaikh, > 43, who, they said, died after inhaling the noxious gases > produced inside the septic tank. And today I saw this absolutely chilling story on Tehelka: http://tehelka.com/story_main36.asp?filename=Ne081207LIFE_INSIDE.asp Do read it. It is a graphic description of the lives (and deaths) of the Dalits who are condemned to keeping our rivers of sewage flowing. Also spare a glance at the photos that accompany the story. But who cares? They are Dalits, after all. And in Goa, if the above item is any indication, some of them at least are members of another despised minority (Muslims), and probably -- horror of horrors -- ghantis, those very people currently held responsible for all Goa's ills. Not only do we expect them to clean our shit, we feel no compunction in condemning them and railing against them. It costs a lot in misery and lives to keep our cities and our Goa beautiful and clean. I really think we should develop a more nuanced understanding of these issues. It is very easy to talk of beautiful Goa and how clean it is, and to demand sparkling clean environs. And it is equally easy to rail against those (Dalits, ghantis, whatever) who are condemned to the job of ensuring this. Next time we go to our sparkling clean bathrooms and sit on our beautiful commodes with the fragrance of that lovely air freshener wafting about us, let us face the fact that we are contributing our mite to the misery and death of others. Before calling others dirty, let us think about what our clean and beautiful lives cost countless others who remain invisible and whom we never think about. -- Question everything -- Karl Marx
