Thieves in a posh apartment complex!

 Today morning, the security guard in my apartment came up to my huband (who is the president of the Owner's association) and told that 6 thieves had come in the dead of the night. They had tried to steal things. Hearing some sound, the night watchman went to see what was up. Seeing him they ran away across the compund taking some of the loot and leaving back some. What was the loot? -They took a metal hatch/ covering, left behind some clothes and a plastic chair. This was the stuff they could lay hands on and out of which they took the most valuable one.

Soon after the association got into a swing, established links with people who could put a taller fence / raise the compound wall, put in CCTV cameras, etc.

Who are these people who came inside the compound to steal? Looking at what they were trying to steal, it is quite obvious that they were amateurs, desperate men trying to get their hands on whatever they can, maybe make a quick buck. It is quite evident that the thieves dont rely on this for a living, simply because it is insufficient for a living. Also for such small thefts, they are unlikely to have paid for transport and come from a distance (rember the cost of petrol!). These are more likely to be some desperate men from the neighbourhood. 

As I say that these must have been men from the neighbouhood, it would sound illogical to a westerner, because I say in the title that this is a posh apartment building. But an Indian would have no problem in grasping the situation. Why? Every Inidan knows that there are ghettos next to posh areas. Slums, construction sites, you name it. 

This isolated, yet side by side living very poor and the very rich is what hits me hard!

In India , every rich neighbourhood has a poor neighbourhood nearby from where blue collared workers often come to work in the rich homes. These people from the ghetto often are very jealous. Though they behave quite well most of the time, at times, like when they are drunk, or hard hit by poverty, they are prone to letting out these jealousies through acts of violence, theft, stone thorwing, etc. To say that they are violent people is to get the perspective completely wrong.

Most likely, anyother person, you or me are also likely to be doing similar things in simlar situations. Most often, the rich in these situations, know that they are richer and could become rich more easily that these 'other' people. The presence of the poor, reminds one of what things can become if they dont do whatever they are doing to be rich. Their presence reminds them, that they are not doing anything to alleviate this condition and causes guilt. The desperateness of the poor, makes them fearful of the poor. Without having guts to face this situation, they repress this entire problem into the uncounscious. Acting out of ununderstood fear, they dominate and are tyrannical with their servants.

Treating them as less than humans is another common expression of this unconscious process. Fearing them, we project all our anger and violence on them. We think that we are not generally angry, we are not generally violent but 'these  people' are angry, violent, they have carnal desires, have animal tendencies and so on. Every one of us has a portion of these tendencies just like them. Instead of owning them, we project it on them. We conlude that they have these 'animal' tendencies, we are more refined. So we are the helpless victims, we need to protect ourselves with taller walls and fences, employ other people (from the same poor community) to protect us. As if we are in the wilderness surrounded by wild animals.

How much of it is a fear of beast within us? How much of it an act of repression of our guilt?