On the abbreviation "DAD" (dollar-a-day)

When I was growing up, a phrase I often heard - mostly from the mouths of working people - would translate thus: "What is money? After all, its dirt off your hands." Then, there is this memory of my grandfather; as soon as he sat up after a night's sleep - it was usually in the open, under the stars - no mosquitos then as now - he would bring his hands up palm towards him and mutter something in Sanskrit. Later, I learnt that this was a fairly wide practice.

One day, years later, I figured out what that short Sanskrit was about. In translation, it will go "On the front of the hand is Lakshmi, Mother of prosperity, In the root of hand is Saraswati, Mother of learning. In the middle is Govinda, (Krishna).Thus we respectfully see our hands in the Morning"... The Sanskrit word for hand is 'Kara' (from this you get Kartaa - kartaar - Creator) which is also the root word for Karma.... That prayer is now contracted into temple ritual and in some homes as routine. Not much feeling or undertanding go in it.

I have always maintained that the two hands and the head form the Triangle of Cognition.

All of the above bubbled up when I received a banner from a friend that I ended up using for this blog. As I did this I wondered how many would understand that I am using D. A. D. as a figure of speech. I do not 'make' a dollar a day. In fact, any money I 'make' is little and far in between. Its a situation that can be best summed up as "Total Employment at Zero income"

So, How do I make ends meet? how do I get 'food' on the table?

My answer: I am supported by the awesome philanthropy of people who do make about a dollar a day. They work with their hands. They are not greedily attached to money. Although they are not heard saying those old things I mentioned in the beginning, their actions indicate that they know their validity in their bones. In comparison the class of people above them is shameful in its stingy, calculating, hoarding attitude.

I find the philanthropy of dollar-a-day people just awesome. It is possible that the human race has a giving instinct, some kind of a gene. When people have nothing to give, they give themselves, and that is what is enoblingly awesome. They have little material wealth. Hardly any education. They are too busy to read newspapers or watch TV. And yet, in their working and in their amazing capacity to give themselves they sustain more than the people meeting at any G-8 conference.

- Vyom Akhil, an email dated 06/02/2007 9:06 PM