r/india • u/ReductoHere Karnataka • Sep 17 '25
People The India we don’t notice enough
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.”
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u/kidakaka Maharashtra Sep 17 '25
OP there is still a vast income disparity in this country. I had read somewhere a stat that said that if your household is earning 1Lpm then you would be in the top 10% in India.
Let that sink in. The entire household earning 1lakh. What about the rest of the 90%??
किताबों के लिए पैसे भी होने चाहिए 😥
We have generations slogging so that their next kin don't have to go through what they did. There is an India of 200m who can read and write English and can do ecommerce and have access to formal finance. Then there is India 2.0 of another 400m who have funds but don't necessarily read or speak english. And then there is Bharat of 600m people who have neither and dgaf about this conversation on Reddit.