Earbuds, Sunglasses and more

How many packets of ear buds do you need? Especially when you are living alone? Well I have amassed four now. Not that I am a cleanliness freak but it just happened that one evening while returning from office, I saw this kid completely drenched and shivering trying to sell the ear buds. It was raining heavily and my heart went out for the poor kid, so i rolled down the window and bought one from him. Then a few days later, I saw another kid in exactly the same situation, I again bought one again. This happens very frequently. Now apart from the four year buds, I have a useless key ring too. I was even contemplating buying sunglasses, which would have been completely useless as I wear glasses so obviously I can’t put on sunglasses over my power glasses. The quality of the road side products are really poor. So despite my heart telling me to buy it, the brain vetoed the idea.
Why can't the government do something for these destitute rather than spending money on useless activities like inauguration of roads make more roads, where more people can be employed? Construct housing colonies for those living in slums; involve people from these slums for the construction. This will give employment and houses to these people and at the same time, will free the slum areas of hutments. For cities like Mumbai, it can be a boon.
People like us who are reasonably better off can also contribute. Just because we work at office and pay our taxes doesn't mean that we have fulfilled our responsibilities.
I definitely want to do something for these people. Now I am buying ear buds, later on I hope to do more.

This blog was originally posted on 7/28/06, while I was in Bangalore