this trip,this journey was actually a 1 hour ride..just 60 minutes..which taught me a lot!
A lot abt life,abt emotions,abt different people..
This is a journey in a city local bus!
A place where each person gets in to reach somewhere..each one having his own life,his own story,a family back home,a destination,a reason to travel,a baggage of responsibilities,a turmoil of emotions within,a feeling,a life!
this wasnot my first experience in a local bus ,but still, this this one left me thinking..
the moment i entered the bus,it was full,hardly any place to stand..i ws surrounded by mostly rural people,,all sweaty,smelly,ill mannered i assumed!but then one guy got up and offered me his seat..i ws really amazed at his mannerisms.i mean we had heard "respect females" but here i saw it!!i felt elated..proud of my country,proud of being a female!
as i settled down,there was some commotion on the back side..a beggar had entered the bus and had started his usual "begging bussiness" right there!the conductor had made the mistake of trying to stop him to beg in the bus..the beggar felt offended and was cursing him.i had a mixed emotion..i dint know whether to pity the beggar or to get angry that despite having all resources-a good and healthy physique,why could this man not work and earn??
Why did he have to beg?anyways the beggar finally quietened and settled down,took out a packet of "paan -masala" and ate it!!i was amazed-how could this man afford it?i mean on one hand he was begging-saying he had been hungry for past 3 days and one the other he could afford such addictions!i found it strange..was he not encashing human empathy?i remained silent-but decided never to even give a penny to these "hypocrite" beggars!
At the next stop enterd an old lady,i dont know what made me stand up to offer her my seat..she seemed upset..later i discovered that her son was unwell,but she didnot have enough money to get his medicines..but i felt that this was another form of begging and i ignored her!
but then another person who seemed as poor as the lady herself offered her 10 rupess,the lady refused but later took it with tears of thankfulness in her eyes..the man said-"hum gareeb hi ek dusre k kaam nahi aayege to insaaniyat kaha jaegi?" i felt ashamed of myself..
just then entered a rich looking guy and he started commenting on a gal..i had never seen eve teasing before-this made me sad.all the pride of being a female was fading away!
i was pondering upon the variety of people,same place-but how different people could be!hw because of few bad people,we have a feeling of indifference towards all?
just then another old lady got up to leave the bus-but due to sudden brakes,she felt down and got injured..another village guy picked her up and volunteered to drop her back as she could barely walk now..i again was proud of humanity in my country!
it was followed by a young boys crying-his mother had slapped him!jst because the boy kept asking her that "wo dadiji gir kaise gayi?"the mother was irritated,partly due to heat,partly due to other reasons,so the best way to give vent to her anger was to slap the innocent boy for no reason at all!
i truly felt like thanking the god for such a wonderful journey,where i saw both good and bad faces of life,abt how wrong our perceptions are,about humanity and emotions in villagers,abt our notion that all rich people are cultured..
i now started classifying people as individuals ,rather than rich-poor,urban -rural..
will keep posting..though as my exams are approaching,so maybe my next post will be after a month..keep smiling till then!
nice post.. keen obsevation put in words in most efficient way.. liked it..:)
ReplyDeleteyou certainly are improving with each one you write..
that was a meaningful journey indeed, ishita. u got to see the real India. India is not something which we see at the malls that are springing up at such rapid rates in cities. the real India lies in such city buses, in villages, in small streets.
ReplyDeleteas far as begging business is concerned, sometimes one observes that the beggar is not a healthy grown up. he/she is just a 7-8 year kid and its obvious to feel pitiful towards him/her. but, still when i see one, i'm not sure whether to help him or not. but there is one solution to such problem. i observed this solution in delhi where many people implement it. instead of helping the beggars with a 5 or 10 Re note, its always more beneficial to help them with some food stuff. and the best way to achieve this is to keep small packets of biscuits etc. along with you in your vehicle. these would at least let the beggars to cater to their empty stomachs, and it would not make you feel that you encouraged them in their misdeeds...
and i would like to share one more incident that occurred with me while i was driving back to my home one afternoon. its very similar to one which you observed in the bus. a man aged around 40 (i suppose) waved at me to stop. initially, i thought that he would be asking for a lift. so i didn't pay much attention. but then he cried in a distressed tone.. "arey bhaiya, baat toh sun lo". i stopped to listen to him. he told me that was from some other city, and he had just got down from a local bus, when he realized that his wallet had been stolen. he insisted that he was being truthful and asked for some financial help. i was in such a big dilemma. i was unable to decide whether i should believe him or not, whether he was saying the truth or was he a fraud.
ReplyDeleteI don't what occurred to me, but i calmly made an excuse that i myself was returning from college and that i had nothing to give to him. he didn't mind at all and said, "koi baat nahi bhaiya. aap aesa karo, mujhe ye bata do ki paas mei police station kahaa hai". i told him the location of police station and continued with my journey.
later, when i reached home, i felt a bit ashamed. i realized that the man could have been in need of some money in actual. should i have helped him?
i'm still not able to answer that question!!.. (so you see, ishita... i'm feeling very much connected.. :).. )
hehehehehehe...
ReplyDeleteu can really recall that much from ur memory, its surprising! O.o
the all emotional ups n downs, feelings, showing that a highly sensitive yet powerful "right-brain" u've got wid you girl including the methods to control it in ur own way.
like ur othr posts, this post too helped in knowing bout u more and to undrstand u(which is too an interesting topic itself, atleast more intrsting than DAA ;)
let us have some more of "you" in next posts...
a nice post ishi.....actually its dere in northern india dat we classify dem in castes, creed and sex but u knw wht i hv learned in mumbai is dat although the people dont hv time but in case of someone needed any help (physically or financially) people try to help dem according to their capacity and i hv even found out dat in a local even a CEO of a good company travels along with the normal labour worker with no pride and ego....and always trying to help others.....dats the amazing part of mumbai i liked da most....but i know being a north indian our cultures will definately be like dis someday and i am sure of it....
ReplyDeleteMy previous comment deleted.. Kiko nt LYKEE.. neways, my angels name is ROHIT.. chilld out guy.. he cn jus make ya mood netym... somtyms i wonder hw ppl manage tat dark sarcasm witot offendin ne1 nd yet make em laugh... chilled out...
ReplyDelete