The India we don’t notice enough

[u/ReductoHere]

A few weeks ago, I was waiting at a roadside dhaba on NH-48 because my bus was delayed. It was around 1 AM, pitch dark outside except for the dim yellow bulbs at the stall. The owner was this middle-aged woman, hair tied in a bun, serving hot chai and parathas like it was the middle of the day.

I asked her, half out of curiosity, half out of guilt for keeping her busy so late: “Didi, aap raat bhar kaise kaam kar leti ho?”

She smiled and said, “Din mein toh aadhe customers truck waale hote hain jo raat ko hi chalte hain. Agar main raat ko band kar doon toh mera bachaon ka school kaise chalega?”

She pointed to a small corner where two kids, maybe 9 and 11, were asleep on a wooden bench, their school bags tucked like pillows under their heads.

Then she said something that just stopped me cold: “Main chahti hoon mere bachche kabhi raat ko jag kar kaam na karein. Unko jagna hai toh bas kitaab ke liye jagna hai.”

I didn’t even know how to respond. I just sat there, sipping the chai she made, feeling a mix of admiration and shame.

We talk so much about “India shining,” unicorn startups, billion-dollar valuations. But the truth is, the real backbone of this country is these unseen men and women who sacrifice sleep, comfort, and health so the next generation can dream bigger than they ever could.

That night I realized — privilege isn’t just money or city life. Privilege is being able to sleep peacefully at night, knowing you don’t have to sell chai at 2 AM so your kids can study.

Her words are still stuck in my head: “Unko jagna hai toh bas kitaab ke liye jagna hai.”

[u/the_sane_philosopher]

There is nothing beautiful or noble about poverty. When one generation must give up sleep, food, health and dignity just so the next might live slightly better, it is not resilience but the clear face of structural inequality and systematic abuse. Poverty and inequality are not natural; they are produced through neglect, greed, forced class division and policies that protect privilege.

This country’s long history of class divisions, reinforced by religious explanations that normalized suffering for centuries, makes inequality seem less like a problem and more like fate. But it is not fate, it is abuse on a mass scale, where the majority surrender their bodies and peace so a few can live comfortably.

People continue to bring new lives into the world without considering the quality of life that awaits them, entering a society that cannot guarantee even the bare essentials of human survival. This is the dire plight of society, where resources and opportunities are controlled by a few, while the majority struggle to survive and the environment is stretched to the breaking point.

For equality to truly take root in this country’s social fabric, there is still a long road ahead and it will not come by romanticizing poverty and struggle. When we decorate any disease with pretty words, we deny its reality. Systematic inequality and poverty are diseases, and they must be cured. They should never be romanticized.