It
was 11:30 PM, I was walking back home after a long day at work, clouds had been
gathering in sky as if they would burst into a heavy downpour any moment and a
cold Bangalore breeze was blowing just enough to make the atmosphere mildly
intoxicating. Silence in the street, added a tinge of anxiety to the overall
calm surroundings. Just then I heard a
car approaching from behind, just where I was walking it slowed down and window
slid down. The car was impeccable,
looked like coming straight out of the show-room, spotless and shining!
The
couple in the car looked visibly worried; they asked me if there was any
hospital around. I replied there was one and directed them towards the nearest
hospital. Just as I finished, I realized they had probably been new to the
locality and did not fully follow the directions given quickly. I explained
them again, slowly and with a couple of more landmarks to guide them through
the way. They thanked me and vroomed off towards the hospital.
Next
day, I decided to go to work a little late than my usual time as I had returned
late on previous day.
While
walking on the footpath on way to the office, I came across an old beggar. He
came close to me and tried saying something that I could not understand. Without
even acknowledging his presence, I made way and passed him by.
A
few steps ahead a thought struck me, what if the old beggar had to actually ask
something as genuine as the couple previous night? One possibility led to
another, Wasn’t it possible that the old man just wanted to tell me how bad day
he was having? Or “What time of day it
was?”
A pang of guilt covered my mind; however I
kept on walking ahead, feeling completely ashamed of the cold ignorance I had
shown to the old beggar. The incidence did not subside in the usual routine and
kept coming back to mind.
William
James had written on this phenomena way back in 1984, “no more fiendish punishment
could be devised, if such a thing were physically possible, than that, one
should turn loose in a society and remain absolutely unnoticed by all the
members thereof. If none turned around when we entered, answered when we spoke
or minded what we did but if every person we met, cut us dead and acted as if
we were non-existent things a kind of rage before long would well up within us
from which cruellest bodily tortures would be a relief. “
I think none we meet deserves this kind of
cold ignorance, no matter what class one belongs to. The difference in my
behaviour to the couple driving in a car and asking for direction close to
midnight and the beggar whose motive to interact with me, I did not even care
to notice is not defensible. Of many things around us, I believe if we change
this and at least acknowledge, everyone around us, we will spread some more
relief and happiness.
This
is not at all to say that we should give money in alms to beggars, but at least
we should politely decline – thereby noticing and acknowledging their presence.
