The bubbles we live in

A few weeks ago, I was at an event in Bangalore where pictures from rural Maharashtra were being exhibited. One of the people in the audience referred to people in the photos as "marginalised communities". That felt very odd because the majority of our Indian population stays in rural areas - 67% to be precise, as I just found out.

What kind of exposure (or lack of it) do you need to have such an assumption? Perhaps this would not raise eyebrows for another person who has only ever lived in cities and recognises the "rural" experience only from a distance.

Or maybe this has to do with the media coverage that rural areas get: much less than 1% both in TV and in print (as I also just found out).

These are the bubbles we live in: some lived experiences are felt closely and exist as first-class citizens in our imagination while others, even those that represent the experience of a huge majority, are seen only from a distance. If we do not challenge (or first, seek to discover) these assumptions, our opinions and empathy will come from a disconnected reality.