Bas Itnasa Khwab Hain

They expressed their expectations from the parties they chose to govern the state. They all honestly stated that though they consciously voted for the candidate of Mahayuti, they of course did not imagine that it would get such a decisive mandate. They weighed the alternatives available and found that Mahayuti would be a good choice. I invariably asked them what do you mean by ' Good '? Initially, all hesitated a little but eventually opened their heart.

Many women were satisfied with the Ladaki Bahin scheme, housemaids were happy that this money would help them combat the rising prices. Most of them find that they do not get a raise every year to match the rising prices. So, they looked at this as some kind of interim relief. Most of them wanted to spend it on family-related expenses. This was an unexpected support.

I had to travel to a place by rickshaw, as there was heavy traffic on the road, and it took a long time to reach the destination. The swearing-in ceremony was over, so he started talking about the chief minister and his style of working. He admitted that his vote did not go to waste, as ultimately the party he voted for formed the government. He said that honestly, his role was over after his voting, but he wanted the ruling alliance to know that he voted them to power with some expectations. He seemed to have faith in it but wanted his voice to be heard.

He belonged to a humble background, drove his rickshaw in the morning session and, then worked as a car driver to some gentleman. Again he is out with his rikshaw and works for some hours. I was intently listening to him and was wondering which direction was he taking the argument. His voice expressed a great concern, he said that he wanted his children to get a good education. He wanted his son and daughter to go to a good school. The renowned schools he was talking about, were all private. They are private unaided schools and the fees are quite high according to him. He knew the value of education very well, so wanted to enroll his child into a private institution.

His worry was after paying fees, he had no sufficient money left to get some private tuition for the son. He exclaimed that managing fees is itself a huge task, so how could he get additional help for his son? The fees for private coaching are also very high for him, so he cannot afford some extra coaching. ( This made me think about why cannot schools take full responsibility for education fully, why the children need some outside support. Our government spends a considerable amount to bear the expenses of aided schools, and students need some kind of external support too. We are investing time and money twice the cost. It makes the routine of a school-going child unnecessarily hectic.) Despite the hard work put in, he is unable to earn money sufficient to be able to get a good education for his son. His daughter is also studying in a professional institution, he has to manage her fees too. This was his burden and pain. He asked me a question,why can't girls get support for higher education too?

This made me remember Deendayal Ji's perspective on this topic. He thought that society should treat the expenditure on education as a valuable investment. If someone cannot take the education simply because one cannot afford the cost, it is the loss of society. One will not be able to contribute to society as per the potential.
The second and one of the most significant points he raised was related to government offices and services. He probably could remember his encounters with the offices. He said why is it not possible to get work done without paying over and above the official cost. With frustration, he said that any and every work in the government offices never got done without paying some extra amount and visiting the office multiple times. Why all don't get the right guidance? All don't understand the details of the procedure, why sufficient help is not available at the office? Why are lay people made to face humiliation at the hands of officials? Are the officials not paid for the service they give? Why should they expect us to pay extra? Even simple work related to Aadhar card doesn't get done easily, he grumbled. He probably visited offices repeatedly.

His expectations and the questions are valid. I had no answer to satisfy him, but I promised him to write about it and raise his concern. He said that he expected the newly sworn-in chief minister to make their life a little comfortable by making such things work. He seemed to have a great faith in him. He voted for him with this thought in mind. To me, he symbolises the common man we used to meet in famous cartoons.

The expectations are too high to ignore. Hope our CM and deputy CMs take serious note of this.