Mumbai BeachListener: Man Charges to Listen to People’s Problems. That is now on the water. In Mumbai’s most popular beach, a story has taken hold. At a very popular and prestigious beach where a man volunteers to be the listener, a number of residents of Mumbai, who are struggling, come to ask someone to help you at time of trial of any sort. Some see it as a creative way to begin to make a living, but a lot of people aren’t certain that it’s right a little too much to call it right to put a price on listening to people’s pain.
A reporter asked the man if people would come to him. “For small troubles, ₹250,” he answered clearly and confidently. For bigger worries, ₹500 and to cry together, ₹1,000. I am here to listen to people’s problems.
But he said so many people feel lonely or stressed and simply want to hear someone out. Through his time and attention, he feels there is relief here. Because he offers clients the most basic person-to-person, friendly service instead of the kind of professional counseling or therapy that they’d get from therapy (at a cost).
The story resonated in social media but as so often happens with most stories such stories don’t. And yes, some users praised the man’s creativity. He discovered how to make empathy profitable as one life. Some disagreed with the idea: listening should not be monetized and how people should have empathy for you can also be done by their ears and be done on social media if people are vulnerable.
It was much of a problem in society: people mostly have no one to share their emotions with except strangers, and that is worrying to me. That they will pay so much for such a thing has only made it more obvious to me in urban life how isolated and fraught loneliness there is; it’s the sense of belonging and loneliness and stress that has come very thick and heavy in the city.
Because the man’s services are unusual to anyone else it illustrates the intense need for emotional outlets, people are in high demand in today’s mental health and social life. And with a person in an ever expanding city like Mumbai always going on, an adult’s listening can be challenging to get that.
Experts acknowledge that informal listeners provide comfort at times but they insist that professional counseling and therapy will help in dealing with more serious issues more often. At the time, though, the man’s initiative speaks volumes for the need for a good answer to a hole being filled in in society to take care of those who don’t have access to mental health care.
Mumbai beach listener has become an emblem of creativity and concern. As a service the listener can be useful or not, but he helps a lot of people to feel loneliness. If the business can be seen as “funny” and potentially unhealthy as well or a worrying commentary on the social issues that take an eye on you, it serves as an allegory for empathy, connecting and mental health service that must also make a real emotional connection to people.
