Another Day In Paradise
Music is many things. It is a hobby or profession for some and an enjoyable way to pass the time for others. As a medium primarily meant for entertainment, the lyrics of songs have immense power to influence the minds of the masses without them even realising it.
An internet fad doing the rounds on social media of late is the 30 day song challenge. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it has different prompts everyday to share songs that mean something to you. This is a great way to discover more music and find out that one of your friends has a similar in taste in music as you. While it was aimed at quick, low effort consumption, I felt it could have been so much more.
Inspired by the idea of the challenge, I decided I would do something similar. A series of small articles talking about some of my favourite songs with social, political or cultural messages or anything that I feel conveys a lot of meaning. If you know any other songs about the same, please feel free to share.
This is part four of the series and for those of you who want to read the earlier parts, I’ll leave the links at the end of this article.
India is one of the poorest countries in the world. As I sit on my comfortable bed, in my air conditioned room with an expensive laptop on my desk, I first acknowledge the position of privilege from which every word that will follow is written. As someone who grew up in comfort with more food than I could eat and access to quality education, I won’t even pretend I understand the struggle that most in our nation face.
This brings me to other side of the coin, the growing population of the rich and extremely rich in India. The disparities in the economic strata of India are widening.
As long as the policy of the ruling parties continues to be handouts to the poor over constructive and sustainable rehabilitation of their economic condition, not only will this gap widen, but the government’s coffers will slowly empty leaving the poor of our nation high and dry.
Phil Collins in his song Another Day in Paradise beautifully elucidates how the rich can at times be indifferent to the struggles of the poor.
The lyrics talk of the plight of the poor and homeless as they beg for help from people who pass by without taking notice to go back to their comfortable lives in paradise.
Let me start by saying being well off, either because you were born into privilege or because you worked hard and earned it does not make you responsible for the misfortunes of others. However, this does not mean you do nothing.
If you were on a sinking ship would you stand around and do nothing simply because you weren’t the one who caused it to sink? Well we’re all in the same ship.
Keep in mind that the attitude of “I pay my taxes regularly, my debt to society is repaid” does not apply in the Indian context. We are a country of 1.3 billion people. Perhaps it is a model that may function in small and scarcely populated European nations with established social welfare systems, but not in India where neither do we have a well established system in place, nor do we have enough to provide for all the poor in our country.
It is therefore our duty to identify what we feel is the best way to help and make our contributions. Donate to the charitable cause you feel would make the most impact, be it a contribution towards education, food, shelter, medical facilities or even non-profits that are trying to ensure that every Indian home has a functioning toilet.
Many fear that these organisations are corrupt and will misuse money given to them. If you have any such reservations, there are two solutions.One is to donate specific items instead of money. The other is to start from your own home. Most urban households in India employ maids, cooks and drivers to help with daily tasks. If they’re willing to take the assistance, you can pay for the education of their children. Most of these children are forced to work from a very young age continuing the vicious cycle of poverty. Help them break the chain. One person may not seem like much of a difference to you but you would be surprised what kind of ripple effects a single act of kindness can have. No contribution is too small.
P.S. Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror is another song that questions how we have become indifferent to the suffering around us.
Part three : Zombie
Part two : Words as Weapons
Part one : Make it Stop