Yes , you read it right.. Not an incident.. an accident, literally!
When there are two people quarreling in the middle of the road, or probably an accident... what will the on-lookers do? simple, they'll form a "straight-circle" and.. look..
Come on, they are on-LOOKers, what do u expect them to do? You ain't his girlfriend or brother or sister.. Why the heck should HE come and help u? What the heck does it matter to him when someone dies?? Every second, a baby is born, and someone dies. Why should i be worried about all that? I have seen or known over 100 instances where someone could have helped someone else, but did not. In fact, in only 1 of all those instances, did the help actually come.
It was an accident on the Outer ring road in B'lore, one fine Saturday afternoon in November 2007 , i guess.. or arnd that time. I was going in a cab to a frnd's place, when we saw a lorry literally ROFLing!! (pardon the cruel satire). I guess the Driver died on the spot, i din't even check as i was just crushed by the intensity of the accident. Of all people, the driver of the cab in which i was going (and hey, cabs offering rides at minimal rates is illegal too) stopped, took a water bottle and ran towards the lorry.. There were two others in the cab, and they ran after the driver. For a few moments, i was sitting and staring at the lorry.. Then, i realised i was the only person in the cab. I got down and hurried to the spot too. The Lorry was carrying a lot of stone, and the whole road was like misted by the dust rising. I ran straight to the lorry, and noticed everyone else had just formed the circle at a distance. I was looking at the cleaner fellow (just a guess), he was like bleeding from top to bottom and looked unconscious. I took his hand. It was beating. "He's alive", i shouted at the top of my voice. Noone responded. I shouted again. Everyone looked at me like they were seeing some Martian. I pointed at the cab driver and shouted again, "He's alive.. Neeru bekU!" (Water needed in my broken kannada). The tens of ppl there from all those vehicles who were "irritated" at the traffic block created by the lorry, now looked at my cab's driver. He had no options. He hurried forward, and together , we pulled this guy out of the debris and poured water over him, the guy jus opened his eyes, got the water and started drinking it as if his life depended on it (i guess it was, that literally..) I was shaking from head to toe,seeing all that blood loss, when that guy jus smiled after gulping every drop in the bottle.
"Get the driver", he managed to speak slowly in kannada. I couldn't react, i was overcome with a range of emotions, from the lack of humaneness in everyone around me, to the fact that everyone expected me not to go in and run around shouting, like i were on fire! Honestly, even my parents used to say, "Be selfish , atleast to some extent.. First, ensure you take care of urself, then we can think bout others...". Why, what's the difference? How'll ya feel, if u wer the one bleeding all over, and there are so many ppl standing around and watching you because they wanna see a person die , when they can get you to the hospital and save precious time, that may prove so decisive in the end.. Someone had called the ambulance (thank god atleast one person there had brains, how i wanted to thank him!!) and by the time i was thinking how to get the driver out of the lorry, the ambulance came and took over. I walked back to the cab, and my driver took another bottle and washed blood off his hands. He gave me the bottle to wash my hands. And i guess he asked me to wash my hands.. i don't know more than a few words of kannada. The blood refused to go, and finally, i used up the entire bottle to get the colour of red off my hands. It was all mechanical to me from then on. We got back into the cab and started moving. The two Onlookers in my cab were discussing the probabilities on how the accident could have happened, in Hindi. The driver was saying something in Kannada, and i couldn't get anything that was going on. Only the cleaner's smile stuck to my face. The smile was more like he was amused someone would actually help. Such is the world, i thought. (Or perhaps, i looked funnier with blood soaked hands..)
I reached my friend's place and kept washing my hands for a few minutes with soap. I felt like cleaning the world of bastards who prefer to discuss things rather than helping. They were watching it all as if it was a mega-serial soap venture by Ekta Kapoor.. I felt like bashing up the two cab-mates, and i would have, if i'd known to fight. In case i'd tried, i predict Aswin losing two teeth. And when i told my frnz about all that happened, they said, "Oh..(a second of silence) so... wassup, how's work?"
Puhleez, people... Care and emotions, why are you restricting it to your family.. There are thousands who need it... BADLY need it. Everyone cannot be ur family, but anyone can be (this is the ratatouille effect). Think about it.
Love & care are some of the very few things in the world that increase with sharing... I rest my case.
When there are two people quarreling in the middle of the road, or probably an accident... what will the on-lookers do? simple, they'll form a "straight-circle" and.. look..
Come on, they are on-LOOKers, what do u expect them to do? You ain't his girlfriend or brother or sister.. Why the heck should HE come and help u? What the heck does it matter to him when someone dies?? Every second, a baby is born, and someone dies. Why should i be worried about all that? I have seen or known over 100 instances where someone could have helped someone else, but did not. In fact, in only 1 of all those instances, did the help actually come.
It was an accident on the Outer ring road in B'lore, one fine Saturday afternoon in November 2007 , i guess.. or arnd that time. I was going in a cab to a frnd's place, when we saw a lorry literally ROFLing!! (pardon the cruel satire). I guess the Driver died on the spot, i din't even check as i was just crushed by the intensity of the accident. Of all people, the driver of the cab in which i was going (and hey, cabs offering rides at minimal rates is illegal too) stopped, took a water bottle and ran towards the lorry.. There were two others in the cab, and they ran after the driver. For a few moments, i was sitting and staring at the lorry.. Then, i realised i was the only person in the cab. I got down and hurried to the spot too. The Lorry was carrying a lot of stone, and the whole road was like misted by the dust rising. I ran straight to the lorry, and noticed everyone else had just formed the circle at a distance. I was looking at the cleaner fellow (just a guess), he was like bleeding from top to bottom and looked unconscious. I took his hand. It was beating. "He's alive", i shouted at the top of my voice. Noone responded. I shouted again. Everyone looked at me like they were seeing some Martian. I pointed at the cab driver and shouted again, "He's alive.. Neeru bekU!" (Water needed in my broken kannada). The tens of ppl there from all those vehicles who were "irritated" at the traffic block created by the lorry, now looked at my cab's driver. He had no options. He hurried forward, and together , we pulled this guy out of the debris and poured water over him, the guy jus opened his eyes, got the water and started drinking it as if his life depended on it (i guess it was, that literally..) I was shaking from head to toe,seeing all that blood loss, when that guy jus smiled after gulping every drop in the bottle.
"Get the driver", he managed to speak slowly in kannada. I couldn't react, i was overcome with a range of emotions, from the lack of humaneness in everyone around me, to the fact that everyone expected me not to go in and run around shouting, like i were on fire! Honestly, even my parents used to say, "Be selfish , atleast to some extent.. First, ensure you take care of urself, then we can think bout others...". Why, what's the difference? How'll ya feel, if u wer the one bleeding all over, and there are so many ppl standing around and watching you because they wanna see a person die , when they can get you to the hospital and save precious time, that may prove so decisive in the end.. Someone had called the ambulance (thank god atleast one person there had brains, how i wanted to thank him!!) and by the time i was thinking how to get the driver out of the lorry, the ambulance came and took over. I walked back to the cab, and my driver took another bottle and washed blood off his hands. He gave me the bottle to wash my hands. And i guess he asked me to wash my hands.. i don't know more than a few words of kannada. The blood refused to go, and finally, i used up the entire bottle to get the colour of red off my hands. It was all mechanical to me from then on. We got back into the cab and started moving. The two Onlookers in my cab were discussing the probabilities on how the accident could have happened, in Hindi. The driver was saying something in Kannada, and i couldn't get anything that was going on. Only the cleaner's smile stuck to my face. The smile was more like he was amused someone would actually help. Such is the world, i thought. (Or perhaps, i looked funnier with blood soaked hands..)
I reached my friend's place and kept washing my hands for a few minutes with soap. I felt like cleaning the world of bastards who prefer to discuss things rather than helping. They were watching it all as if it was a mega-serial soap venture by Ekta Kapoor.. I felt like bashing up the two cab-mates, and i would have, if i'd known to fight. In case i'd tried, i predict Aswin losing two teeth. And when i told my frnz about all that happened, they said, "Oh..(a second of silence) so... wassup, how's work?"
Puhleez, people... Care and emotions, why are you restricting it to your family.. There are thousands who need it... BADLY need it. Everyone cannot be ur family, but anyone can be (this is the ratatouille effect). Think about it.
Love & care are some of the very few things in the world that increase with sharing... I rest my case.
