Bicycles everywhere!

Kokila, the maid who comes once a day to my parents' home to cut vegetables (that's right - her sole job is to cut vegetables for the next day morning's meal - strange job, but they employ her because she wanted the job and they want someone around so that if the regular maid who does the other housework doesn't show up or they need a temporary cook if my mother is indisposed, they'll have someone else to turn to) has a regular day job at a school. She's part of a crew that keeps the school clean. The school is about 3 kilometers away from where she lives and she walks back every afternoon. Today, she was telling me how tired she gets walking back every day - there are no buses that run at the time she and her colleagues leave and they really can't afford an autorickshaw or anything else - in spite of the fact that on her days off from the school, she works at a factory (where she gets paid for about 9 hours of work about Rs. 50 - RS. 50! - that's pure exploitation as far as I'm concerned, but it's the going rate per what she says - that's about $1.10 - now I know things can't be like in the developed countries and people can't get paid even a dollar an hour or anything like that, but come on, it should at least be Rs. 100 for the whole entire day).

So she's going to learn how to ride a bike (she's about 36 and has been widowed for many years now, with two teenagers to take care of) - something that for whatever reason she didn't get to do as a child - and then buy a bike so she can use it for transportation to her school.

Now, in all good conscience, it's going to be impossible for me to take the plane (http://notesfromalongjourney.blogspot.com/2008/11/planes-trains-or-automobiles.html), when I know that if I take the train, I can save enough money to buy her a brand new bicycle (at a cost 0f about Rs. 3000 at the most) and still have enough left over to take my next train journey somewhere. A conscience can be a pain sometimes - but this time, I guess I'll listen - since I really don't have to be anywhere in a hurry and if a few minutes of discomfort can really help make someone I know's life more bearable, then I guess I can put those in a different perspective. Now, ideally, of course, one would take the plane and buy the bicycle. But if I start doing too much of that, then before long, I'll probably be needing a bicycle myself! Now, if I start analyzing things like this every time I travel, everyone I know who needs a bicycle is going to end up with one!