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Madhya Pradesh man cycles 105km to ferry son to Class X exam centre
- crooked-v 6y agoHuh, so Indian media has misery-porn-framed-as-supposedly-uplifting-news stuff too.
- ayyy 6y agoIs it really that? Can a native speaker give context?
- alexbanks 6y agoI didn't read and don't want to spread misinformation. Disregard.
- toast0 6y agoIt wasn't a medical exam. This was a school exam; I didn't get all the context, but probably a placement/entrance exam.
- devdas 6y agoNo, the 10th class exams are high school graduation. This is incredibly competitive, and the grades you get here will affect what jobs, trade schools and colleges you get access to.
- ayyy 6y agoGP or the author of the article? I understand what the article meant (it was a school exam btw), I just didn't know if it was being presented as a sad story or an "uplifting news". It's impossible to tell from the translation.
- ffpip 6y agoYes. It was presented as poor person does this, overcomes massive difficulties, while the govt doesnt address difficulties, etc. I can read Hindi
- alexbanks 6y agoSorry - I didn't read the article - I was mostly trying to translate what (I incorrectly thought) the person you responded to was trying to say. I apologize.
- manigandham 6y agoIt wasn't about medical treatment. He was taking his son for a school test so that he wouldn't have to waste a year. Education is critical to climbing out of poverty there. Also this isn't a normal situation. They usually take a bus or train, but public transportation is shutdown because of covid which is why they traveled on a bike.
- alexbanks 6y agoMy mistake. Was trying to translate (and very clearly didn't read).
- jakecopp 6y agoAh yes, see the FB group "This isn’t wholesome, this is the Capitalist Dystopia" [1] for more examples of this in the US. [1]: https://www.facebook.com/groups/709692249462801/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/709692249462801/
- letitgo12345 6y agoMaybe the reason some Asians are successful given the opportunities is because such stories are thought of as uplifting instead of lamenting against the system. The system is bad but what's wrong with celebrating and finding inspiration from people who beat it?
- shirakawasuna 6y agoAdding model minority rhetoric to misery porn isn't going to make things better...
- imgabe 6y agoSome people complain about the system, some people take action and improve their lives however they can. Sure, "we" should fix the system, but good luck waiting around for that to happen.
- Aunche 6y agoWhat you're calling misery is literally just life for half of the world.
- crooked-v 6y agoThere's a difference between recognizing hardship and celebrating it as if it were a good thing, and the American variety of dystopic 'uplifting' news generally does the latter.
- econcon 6y agoThe system is actually very insensitive towards such people and guess what? When these people struggle hard, clear all test - they go for robbing the nation with corruption and their justification for that has always been "when I was struggling and poor, no one came to my rescue now it's my turn and I deserve all the money accured through corruption" and it creates more poverty. Poor people don't study to join Google or Facebook in India. They study for government jobs like customs officer, railway officer, Indian adminstrative service, Indian Police Service etc... all jobs where you can accure vast sums of money. The amount of money these officers make offrecord is going to eyewater even westerners. In some cases, the wealth they posses rival even high end executives at Google and Facebook. Most people understand and acknowledge this system. They know the only way to out is through it, they stay in system - stay hard, make connections then proceed to benefit from corrupt system.
- Temasik 6y ago100% this that's why Indians are leaving india and be CEOs for Microsoft and Google I'm just telling you like it is... it's not our business to fix others really...
- rudiv 6y agoDo you know a lot of civil service officers? Because you seem to think that the ranks of the Union public services are mostly filled with highly corrupt officers who were born into poverty. Whereas the truth is that although I know some officers who were the first to get a degree or a high school certificate in their family, I also know of many more officers who come from the upper class, and even some who've been in colonial administration for generations.
- econcon 6y ago>Do you know a lot of civil service officers? Not saying most are corrupt but my experience with customs department, tax department etc... made me realize how corrupt they are. Which does not refute the point I am making because a few corrupt people are enough to take down the system.
- drevil-v2 6y agoThis is what annoys me so much about the current protests in the US. These delicate flowers rioting and blocking traffic and destroying buildings/statues don't have any idea how good they have in the United States. And these children want to tear it all down? Entitled brats who have never faced real adversity in their short lives.
- rudiv 6y agoOh, by the truckload. The more the misery, the more the misery porn. A few weeks after the lockdown started, there was a story about a ~13 year old girl pulling her injured father on a cart with her bicycle ~1000km home to their village. The Indian Cycling Federation offered her cycle training, and it trended on Twitter.
- ponker 6y agoFew people on this website will ever be able to understand what it is to be poor like this. I cannot even grasp one corner of the idea.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- actuator 6y agoSearching the story title on Google throws up some English language coverage as well. Adding an alternative to translated page: https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2020/08/19/madhya-pradesh-man-cycles-105km-to-ferry-son-to-class-x-exam-centre.html https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2020/08/19/madhya-pradesh-...
- dang 6y agoChanged to that from https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&nv=1&pto=aue&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&sp=nmt4&tl=en&u=https://www.industryadda.com/%25E0%25A4%25AE%25E0%25A4%259C%25E0%25A4%25A6%25E0%25A5%2582%25E0%25A4%25B0-%25E0%25A4%25AA%25E0%25A4%25BF%25E0%25A4%25A4%25E0%25A4%25BE-%25E0%25A4%25A8%25E0%25A5%2587-%25E0%25A4%25AC%25E0%25A5%2587%25E0%25A4%259F%25E0%25A5%2587-%25E0%25A4%2595%25E0%25A5%258B-%25E0%25A4%25AA%25E0%25A4%25B0%25E0%25A5%2580%25E0%25A4%2595/&usg=ALkJrhhxisFA_C6guT_SODZrTr-RrfhB6w https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&.... Thanks!
- spanhandler 6y agoI know it's an idea that would kind of... eat itself, were it reality. And maybe this is some shitty first-world take and I'm an asshole for thinking it or whatever. It's even a pretty unfair idea, really. But every time I read these sorts of human interest stories I wish there were a "send them some money" button. Again, an idea that would ruin itself immediately. I know. But failing that I'd rather not have them reported at all. This case is different, sure, because it's not targeted at an English-speaking audience at all, but we get them in our media, too. Some of those Yazidis in northern Iraq a few years back? Some of the people trying to get into Greece who got interviewed? Man I wished, as soon as they were someone halfway stable, I could have dropped them some cash. An amount I wouldn't have missed that much would have made a difference. This is an utterly dumb "take", I know, for so very many reasons not least of which is that I could be doing more locally and that's something I actually could do, but it's still all I can think about when I see these kinds of stories. How much help even $100 would be some of these places, if only it could get there. And then my next though is how dumb that is. And that I wish these stories would just go away if I can't do anything about them.
- sam1r 6y agoInstead of wishing & typing this out here + moving on, and then feeling worse the next time -- try messaging the publication and ask for a way. At least you can say you did what you could. Bonus - if you are able to do so successfully, come back here and link it.
- spanhandler 6y agoHeh, think the guy has Venmo? That'd be handy. Yeah maybe I'll try an email tomorrow.
- schoen 6y agoYou could also consider https://www.givedirectly.org/ https://www.givedirectly.org/ although the circumstances they allow you to help with might not be the exact ones that first attracted your interest and concern. Edit: although I think they do share, and allow people to act on, something pretty much like your intuition: > How much help even $100 would be some of these places, if only it could get there.
- njsubedi 6y agoMany people in India are so poor they barely survive, and dream of having their children in some kind of desk job so they can earn money. Any money. But not all parents love their children as much as this dad did; the reason most families stay poor forever is the guardian (usually the father) of the family is indulged in cigarette, tobacco or alcohol consumption. What they earn goes to fulfill the most basic needs of the family, and on intoxication. Hundred of thousands of families stay that way for years until the kid grows up, and either gets a job, or continues like the guardian. It’s sad, but true story that I lived through. Not really an Indian, but from a similar kind of community in its neighboring country. I’m telling all this because this kind of kind gesture from a father is rare, that's why it became a news. Many people ride bicycles everyday for work - my father rode 30kms a day for probably 12-13 years because that was the only vehicle we had. He’d have rode 105 any day for me. Kudos to all the dads who put their children before anything else!
- ChuckNorris89 6y agoYou basically described life in lots of Eastern European villages.
- wayoverthecloud 6y agoHello fellow Nepali :)
- njsubedi 6y agoHaha, hey! It’s the first time in 8 years someone waved a hello to me. I’m sure there are many out here but how’d we know.
- econcon 6y agoIndians actually donated a lot of money from their salaries specially PSU sector workers but somehow the donated money is now a private fund. For anyone interested read "PM cares fund"
- throw93 6y ago
- tawaycyc01 6y agoContext: ======== >> Due to the closure of buses (Public Transport closure) due to Corona epidemic , Shobharam took his son off his bicycle at 12 o'clock on Monday night. There are many stories like this where in one mother drove 1400 km in her motorcycle/scooter to get her son from a place where he was stuck. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/a-mothers-protective-instinct-makes-her-drive-to-get-her-stranded-son-back/article31307458.ece https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/a-mothers-p... In normal times, these people would have traveled by buses or trains. One more: A five-year old flies alone to be with his parents: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/parenting/toddler-year-and-beyond/5-year-old-travels-all-alone-during-the-lockdown-to-reunite-with-his-parents-wins-the-internets-hearts/articleshow/76005200.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/parenting/tod...
- surds 6y agoThere seems to be a slight misunderstanding regarding the ‘exam’ and ‘testing’ context in this article. I don’t know if it is translated or was just poorly written. Just to be clear, this awesome dad was taking his son to another town to appear for the 10th grade Math examination so that he does not fail the paper. Off-topic, but I am surprised that these exams are still being conducted. Most academic examinations are suspended as of now and may resume next month. Anyways, though the situation was like this because most public transportation has been shut down, it is still a sad state of affairs - and I don’t know what to do about it nor what can be a solution. Respect for this father who is striving to push his son at least a level up the economic ladder via education. Decades ago, my father used to walk several miles a day to attend school. His dedication and hard work has probably pushed my family through 2 generations-worth of growth. I’d say we are upper middle-class in India right now. And I am eternally grateful to my family for their efforts. Kudos to this father, and others who strive through utter misery to rise above the hand life has dealt them.
- Thorrez 6y agoThe link is to Google Translate. Google Translate is known for having translation errors (but it's still good for a machine translation).
- jerrygoyal 6y agoOne of many such stories of indomitable courage and persistence is that of Jyoti Kumari, a 15-year-old native of Bihar's Darbhanga (Indian village), who travelled on a bicycle for 7 days carrying her wounded father and covered more than 1,200 km from Gurgaon in Haryana to her village because public transport was shut due to Covid. https://www.livemint.com/news/india/bihar-girl-who-cycled-1-200km-carrying-injured-father-offered-trial-by-cycling-federation-11590083089347.html https://www.livemint.com/news/india/bihar-girl-who-cycled-1-...
- sabujp 6y agonext time you complain that about virtual school...
- rajekas 6y agoSo much subtext about the undeserving poor. Except that it's not even wrong. To give just one example, rates of alcoholism are higher in South India - both in TN and Kerala [1] - where endemic poverty of the Madhya Pradesh kind doesn't exist. We can agree that addiction is widespread and there's been a world wide shift in the spending habits of people who earn less than a dollar a day. Banerjee/Duflo's Nobel Prize is based on that work [2]. Some relevant quotes: > Yet the average person living at under $1 per day does not seem to put every available penny into buying more calories. Among our 13 countries, food typically represents from 56 to 78 percent of consumption among rural households, and 56 to 74 percent in urban areas. For the rural poor in Mexico, slightly less than half the budget (49.6 percent) is allocated to food.2 > Of course, these people could be spending the rest of their money on other commodities they greatly need. Yet among the nonfood items that the poor spend significant amounts of money on, alcohol and tobacco show up prominently. The extremely poor in rural areas spent 4.1 percent of their budget on tobacco and alcohol in Papua New Guinea; 5.0 percent in Udaipur, India; 6.0 percent in Indonesia; and 8.1 percent in Mexico. > Perhaps more surprisingly, spending on festivals is an important part of the budget for many extremely poor households. In Udaipur, over the course of the previous year, more than 99 percent of the extremely poor households spent money on a wedding, a funeral, or a religious festival. The median household spent 10 percent of its annual budget on festivals. 5% is a lot on alcohol, but cannot be the major cause of poverty, festivals being an even bigger outlay. We also know that in India those spending habits are gendered, which is why prohibition campaigns have been very popular among women voters. Nevertheless, the idea that the poor are poor because of their 'poor values' is one of the oldest tropes in the book. Please don't spread stereotypes that are neither grounded in data nor in actual lived experience. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7014857/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7014857/ [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2638067/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2638067/
- known 6y agoHigher Education is the best way to escape from Poverty; Return on Investment in Education is 8.8% https://archive.is/uaLy6 https://archive.is/uaLy6