2 days prior to Holi and the Metro was bound to be crowded….
I was on the way to meet up with my Uncle(South Indian) and Aunt(North Indian) ; they met and married while in college and due to my Aunt’s persistence ; Holi is a Big affair in their household. I was in a hurry to reach his home and was counting the minutes I had to spend on that loaded locomotive full of effervescent deodorants and their potent smell.
I was standing behind a young woman holding two kids in her hands ; one about 2 years and the other barely 5 months old. She was struggling quite a bit due to the sudden halts and bolts and couldn’t hold on properly to the bars.
All was fine until I witnessed a guy in his mid twenties , dressed in a che guevara’s T-shirt , designer jeans , and some pricy apparels ; armed with a laptop bag and a I-phone plugged into his ears , sleeping soundly without any care. I assumed he was on for the last stop. I flinched for a moment , but decided to play good samaritan , to see if it actually worked like those 90’s advertisements on Doordarshan.
I shook him and said - "Sir, I am sorry to disturb you ; but as you can see , this lady is in quite a predicament. It would be extremely nice of you if you offered her a seat.”
He glanced to and fro and then declared in a quaint whisper - "You see , I have a chronic back ache" then plugged in and went back to his siesta.
I was momentarily stunned. The indifference I had heard of so often but not experienced a lot , since I always grew up in Townships where everyone was somehow acquainted and compassion was something we took for granted. Even my college is in a Hamlet called Pilani ; far away from the deafening noises of the city and enveloped by neem and eucalyptus trees all around. I don’t know whether to consider myself fortunate or unfortunate ; but I lean towards the former.
Anyway back to the incident……..
Another man on the opposite side of the Metro car ; got up and tapped he lady , directing her to the seat before it could be taken.
He didn’t possess a laptop bag , was neither young nor did he have a High-end mobile, his plain clothes didn’t ring any bells either and his rowdy accent gave away most of his credentials.
All over our life we accumulate many things , so label ourselves ; like furniture , clothes , gadgets etc. Things we do and things we perceive to do ; all are somewhere linked to the base need for conformity.
We build sandcastles but forget to build polders and go running to ask our friends to come and see the masterpiece. But by the time we convince the lot to move along ; the castle would have been washed away by the waves. They stop for no one. All we can do is plant our feet firmly or learn to swim and for either of these actions you need someone to teach you that. In the first case it is you parents who aught you to stand up and in the other it is the Coach.
Without human interactions , man is nothing but a shell moving to satisfy his primal instincts. So , I implore anyone who read this to value Humanity , the most valuable resource ever known to man.