Skip to main content

Clothes maketh the man - Part II

I was in showoff. The show off outlet, because there was a board outside said up to 70% discount. I was skeptic, as the prices in that shop are normally too much northward. Anyways I went inside and to my surprise, there were many kurtas in the range of Rs. 270 to 350. I wanted to buy all of them. I didn't, because there were many young girls and middle aged women like me, with similar intentions and I do not believe in any kind of injustice. So I just bought 2 kurtas and paid and reluctantly left the shop.

Then I read about the plight of garment workers, who made these dresses, who are Bangalore women  like us, who slave almost 10 hours a day and get paid a meager 6000 rupees per month. They work without any benefits and without any complaints as complaint means job termination. And even women with almost 20 years of experience get similar wage. Their day will start at 4 in the morning. They cook for the family, prepare the children for school and then leave to their factories in a hurry. Because at 9, the gates would close and which means loss of one day's pay. Many work as maids in some houses after returning from factory as this job's income is not sufficient to run the families.

According some statistics, there are around 5 lakh garment workers in Bangalore alone and 80% of them are women. The only other alternate work they find is domestic help which they feel is less dignified compared to garment factory work. But many still prefer to work as domestic helps as the work is less sternous  and more flexible. The women who work in these factories are expected to finish around 100 to 120 pieces per hour. If there is delay they are verbally abused. Even the number of times, they visit the toilet are kept in check. To avoid this problem, the workers avoid drinking water. And the cut pieces of cloth produces respiratory problems like asthma. But most often they are not allowed to leave the factory even they are very sick also. Any violation of the rule causes immediate loss of job.
 And we middle class women, just buy clothes like greedy children and once bought, we do wear them hardly once in a month. Are we not indirectly exploiting these women? As Mani Shankar Aiyyar put it, we middle class act like altruists, but in fact are full of greed, envy and lust and anger.

So what is the solution to garment factory workers poor living condition? 

Is the solution, buy only clothes which have price tag of 4 figures on them. So that there can be shouting matches with spouse regarding this. So that the neighbors can have their daily dose of entertainment?

Source : Garment factory workers slog all day

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Someshwara shataka

ಚರಿಪಾರಣ್ಯದ ಪಕ್ಷಿಗೊಂದು ತರು ಗೊಡ್ಢಾಗಲ್ ಫಲಂ ಈವಿದಾ ಮರಗಳ್ ಪುಟ್ಟವೆ ಪುಷ್ಪವೊಂದು ಬಳಲಲ್  ಭ್ರಂಗಕ್ಕೆ ಪೂವಿಲ್ಲವೆ ನಿರತಂ ಸತ್ಕವಿಗೋರ್ವ ಗರ್ವಿದಂ ನೃಪ ತಾಂ ಲೋಭಿಯಾಗಲ್ ನಿಜಂ ಧರೆಯೊಳ್ ದಾತರು ಪುಟ್ಟರೆ ಹರ ಹರಾ ಶ್ರೀ ಚೆನ್ನ ಸೋಮೇಶ್ವರ Will a bird in the wild go hungry just because one fruit tree dries up? If one flower withers, will not the bee get any flowers? If one haughty king is miserly, will there be no patrons (of poetry) on this earth? ಕೆಲವಂ ಬಲ್ಲವರಿಂದ ಕಲ್ತು ಕೆಲವಂ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರಂಗಳೋದುತಂ ಕೆಲವಂ ಮಾಳ್ಪವರಿಂದ ಕಂಡು ಕೆಲವಂ ಸುಜ್ಙಾನದಿಂ  ನೋಡುತಂ ಕೆಲವಂ ಸಜ್ಜನಸಂಗದಿಂದಲರಿಯಲ್ ಸರ್ವಜ್ಞನಪ್ಪಂ ನರಂ ಪಲವಂ ಪಳ್ಳ ಸಮುದ್ರವೈ ಹಾರ ಹರಾ ಶ್ರೀ ಚೆನ್ನ ಸೋಮೇಶ್ವರ Learning from wise men, reading from good books, observing others  work and learning from good company, these are the ways a man becomes omni-scient (sarvajna - one who knows everything). Just like many streams join together to make an ocean. P.S. 1) If you find some of my wordings in this shataka is wrong, please let me know. It is a 40 year old memory. 2) There are also many tripadis(poem

AA

This must really go to facebook page. But since I am currently not in facebook, I am putting it here. If you feel any of your close ones or your friends and relatives are addicts or on the way of being addicts, introduce them to Alcoholic anonymous. They have meetings all over the Bangalore and in other towns in India also.  I have taken this list from AA India site . The site also contains lot of information about alcoholics including a questionnaire to find out if a a person is an alcoholic or not.   BELGAUM ADDRESSES TIMINGS New Life Group.    St, Anthony Kannada High School,    Opp. Fish Market Khanapur Road, Camp Belgaum-590006 Anand – 099026 87947 Sat 6.00 p.m. Back Top BENGALURU ADDRESSES TIMINGS

ಒಗಟು

ಇದು ಕನ್ನಡದ ಒಂದು ಒಗಟು. ಅಮ್ಮ ಹೇಳಿಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದು. ನೋಡಿ ಬಿಡಿಸಲು ಆಗುವುದೋ ಎಂದು. ಉತ್ತರೆಯ ತಾಯ ತಮ್ಮನ ಕತ್ತಲೆಯಲಿ ಒತ್ತಿ ಕೊಂದವನ ಅಗ್ರಜನ ಪಿತನ ವಾಹನದನ್ತಿರ್ಪವನೆ !!! Hint : you must know your Mahabharatha well. One more. ಹರನ ಹಾರನ ಆಹಾರನ ಸುತನ ದೇವನ ಮಡದಿಯಂ ಕದ್ದೊಯ್ದವನ ಅನುಜನ ಮಡದಿಯೆನಗೊಲಿದಿರ್ಪಳ್ P.S. : If you find the solution, you can mention it in the comment :) Since no one came up with solutions, let me mention them. Uttara's mother's younger brother is Keechaka. The one who killed him in darkness is Bheema. His agraja - elder brother - is Dharmaraya. whose pita - father is Yama. Yama's vahana is buffalo. So the ogatu, is to call some one a buffalo. Second one is Hara's garland - haara is snake, Snake's food is Vaayu - air. Vaayu's son is Hanuman. His god is Rama. The person who kidnapped Rama's madadi - wife - is Ravana. Ravana's anuja is Kumbhakarna. His wife is Nidra - sleep. So all this just to say I am sleepy.