Rationality, a matter of perspective..

Kumar(name changed to maintain anonymity) is from the SC community. One of the rare people in his area to have successfully passed Xth Std. That too after three attempts, kudos to his perseverence. At 35 years, he works as a mason helper to keep the stove burning in his family. Now, here comes his dream offer - an almost sure entry(due to urgent demand) into one of the top construction companies in India, training with stipend and assured salary. But he hesitates ..

Phantoms of the past continue to haunt Kumar. He secured his Bus conductor licence 15 years back. 13 years after registering with the employment exchange, he got the selection call. But, he was rejected at the selection, reason: he was short of the expected height by 2 cm. These days, while travelling by us, I estimate the height of bus conductors .. never thought being taller than 160 cms was so important ...

Now, Kumar has this opportunity from a private company, they are ready to relax the height restriction, all he has to do is take the risk to spend 500 Rs to go to Chennai for the selection ... but, he still hesitates .....

I may be nowhere near cracking the problem of poverty, but have developed a respect for its complexity.