Y'day while waiting to buy vegetables at the nearby sabzi stall - a couple just ahead of me made me realize (yet again) one of the defining features of the urban elite.

They bought stuff worth INR 315 & then started walking off after paying INR 300 with a casual wave of hand.

The sabzi waala protested saying there's no profit margin in these times so please pay the total he asked for. They acted a mix of shock and mocking and said sab itna mehenga hai. (That's a lie: Surprisingly there's no or very little inflation in veggie prices here.)

Sabzi waala said tamaatar 20 rupaye kilo hai, kidhar mehenga hai? They looked at each other, deciding a number in their cold-gaze secret language, and the man took out a 10 rupees note and handed it over with a look of ehsaan.

The sabzi waala kept the 10, still short of INR 5. I said out aloud you should be ashamed. They stopped, looked at me, probably weighing me for the kind of confrontation they want while maintaining social distance.
A second later, he matched my aggression with "And WHO are you?"

I told him you are trying to pinch this guy - an essential worker in these pre-apocalyptic times - of INR 5. FIVE! Don't you find that shameful? After repeating who are you a couple more times & probably not in the mood for longer sentences he ended it with "FUCK YOU" & left.

The sabzi waala said to me later koi baat nahin, 5 rupaye ki hi baat hai. And i understand - probably those five rupees mean nothing for both the parties in this case but decency, respect, and fairness is a social contract that should get stronger in times of distress.

For urban elite - with all their privilege & money - the feeling of persecution complex STILL trumps all other states of being. In this imagination, everyone out there is planning to dupe them & they must choose distrust over decency, bad faith over good to save themselves.

Everyone out there is an OTHER they don't want to interact with and still believe they know everything about.

They can decide the right price of veggies, how much an underprivileged person should eat, what they should eat, and when they should stop asking for more.

/end rant