This is a post of two Stories.
One of them is fiction while the other is a true flesh and blood one.
Fact
Of course, the true story involves me. It happened to me during the middle of this week in I would like to describe as a "Masala Experience". I call it a masala experience in tribute to the great masala genre of movies here in India. It has a mix of dramatic elements like anger, happiness, frustration and a feeling of stupidity like any faithful Indian Masala movie.
Now... now... I know what your naughty mind is thinking, but sorry... there are no wet saree dances or item numbers here.
Date: June 28 2006, Wednesday
Location: A bus stop here in Chennai.
Just as I reached the bus stop on my way home from the office (I undertake a 2 leg journey everyday to reach home), I noticed that some lady was lying face down at the bus stop. She looked 50 something and was dressed in a simple middle class manner. It was quite clear that she had fallen unconcious right there on the bus stop while waiting for a bus or maybe even the worse had happened.
So many people were waiting at the bus stop (around 10+) but as far as they were concerned, she didn't seem to exist. I felt a feeling of revulsion towards those standing there doing nothing... if it were some guy, then I can partially comprehend the public's callousness, but this is an old lady for Christ's sake! I enquired to the people standing there, but none of them seemed to know what had happened to her or why she was unconcious.
I decided to take things in my own hands. I bought a packet of drinking water from a nearby petty shop and revived the lady from her unconciousness. My enquiries about her seemed to lead nowhere. She couldn't even clearly remember her address. Oh! Oh... looked like Alzheimer's, I thought...
On further prompting, she murmured some XYZ location as her address. I then set about requesting one of the people standing out there to help me get her home for she had started complaining of severe pain in her ankle. No one was interested in coming forward. At last a guy (probably a student) volunteered to help me. Was I relieved or what... for I could never had got her home myself. I felt a tinge of happiness to see that not everyone was indifferent towards other's sufferings.
So the next task was to get an autorickshaw to take her home. This task as fellow Chennaiites may know is far from easy. Every other auto that stopped refused us a journey when we explained it's purpose. It was pretty much like the kind of callousness that you would expect to see in any Indian movie where the taxi drivers refuse to help people who have just suffered an accident. I was getting angrier by the moment... and while I was trying to get an auto, student-guy was trying to fish out more information from the lady.
At last an auto driver agreed to help us... I had so far not touched the lady or moved in a close distance to her, but as myself and the auto driver bent down to help her to her feet, I smelled alcohol. Great! The next thing that was needed I need was a drunk auto driver...
Just as we were walking the lady to the auto, the driver enquired her about her home. Now she named some other location ABC. Just as I was thinking that this was getting harder, the auto driver stopped on his tracks and said to me,
"Sir, this woman is drunk."
What the....??!! He then ordered the woman to blow air, and as I leaned closer to the woman's face, sure enough I could smell the strong smell of spirit. It was the woman and not the driver who was drunk!!
I cannot describe that moment enough to you guys... I was angry as hell with the woman. I was relieved that I did not have to get further mixed up in this mess. I also felt stupid all of a sudden. I lashed at the woman almost immediately with very strong words and told her to go to hell and let go of her hand. I couldn't care less as to what happened to her now. Probably even the ankle pain bit that she talked about was just a drama. Just as I was starting to feel embarassed, a bus arrived. It was the one I had to board to go home. I immediately hopped into it and left the place.
End of Narration.
Fiction
This short story that I am going to talk about now is relevant to both the title of this post and my above experience.
The story that I am going to narrate is "Haar Ki Jeet" (Victory in Defeat). It is a short story by Mushi Premchand that I remember from my middle school days. Alright. Let me give you a summary of the story.
Baba Bharthi is a monk who lives in a village temple serving the temple and the people in the village. His only worldly possession is his horse Heera which is indeed a real fine animal. The horse is pretty famous in the neighbouring areas and one day the beautiful animal is noticed by Khadga Singh, the infamous dacoit. He is blown away by the beauty of the animal and desparately tries to buy the animal from Baba Bharthi. When the Baba refuses to sell, he threatens the Baba with dire consequences and leaves.
A few months later, as the Baba goes riding on his beloved Heera, he notices a crippled guy on the road who seems to have a lot of trouble walking. He begs Baba for a ride into the village. Moved by the guy's plight Baba helps him onto the horse. As soon as he is firmly up on the horse, the cripple pushes the Baba away. It turns out that the cripple is none other than Khadga Singh in disguise. He tells the Baba that since he is in possesion of the horse it belongs to him. He also warns the Baba not to try searching for the horse.
Just as he is leaving, Baba tells that he can indeed have the horse but also requests Khadga Singh not to discuss the episode with anyone else lest people lose faith in cripples and other people in need and refuse them help citing this incident as an example. Moved by this noble thought, Khadga Singh returns the horse back to Baba Bharthi.
End of story #2
As soon as I had left the lady at the stop and boarded the bus, I remembered this story. Just as Baba Bharthi said, would I ever be moved so much once again when I see some lady/guy unconcious on the road? I don't know.
What about you? What will be your reaction to such an incident?
PS: Guys... Please don't think "Unnakku kozhuppu da". What would you do in such situations?
23 comments:
hmm... pretty interesting. Looks like u freaked out exactly in the same way when i saw women smoking hukka inside "Mocha" ;) I dint really freak out coz i already know a few girls who booze - so this was only a minor improvement. May be u got a shock :)
I'd have left the lady back just like u. Will u want to help a guy in similar state??? I wont. When we hate drunken guys lying on the roads, why shud we help out drunken women only??? What u did was pretty right.
I had this "Haar Ki Jeet" in my school days as well. Why bring the 2 together. I'd go out and say i did this to a drunken lady and u dont do it as well.
If there are untouchabile ppl anywhere on the globe, it is these ppl. Drunken ppl on the roads are a shame and are better left untouched - so that once they regain their self and see their state, they feel ashamed.
No, I would never help a drunken person on the road. (Do u think the 10 ppl in the bus-stop have had such experiences in the past?)
@Iday - Yeah man... If you get drunk you should at least do so with some company so that they can take you home right?
@Anu - No. What I am trying to say is that nobody knew that the woman was durnk... She did not look like a beggar or anything... She looked more like she had been waiting for a bus at the stop. I still accuse the people on the road of indifference.
@Both - What I am talking about here is, how would you/I react next time we saw a person lying on the road. Will I think about this incident? This is the reason I narrated Haar Ki Jeet. Has my faith been shaken about people lying helpless on the road?
Im no Baba Bharthi. I think I will definitely remember this incident, next time I see someone like that.
I think you will do the same as well. You will definitely hesitate.
Even if u never told me abt this incident, i wont help any drunkard who's dreaming on the road.
Never never never - they are just not worth the trouble :)
@Anu - Yeah... this will definitely affect me.
@Iday - Yes man... Nobody will ever think of helping out a drunkard, but you don't know whether the person lying on the road on the road is drunk at first glance right?
Scipio - Though you felt embarrassed at the end, I still feel you did a commendable job. In the first instant you could have called the cops and they would have found out what is wrong and helped her. She might have fainted in summer heat or such.
Here I see passed out people many times. You call the cops and they will reach the person their home.
A lady passed out in a bus stop is so uncommon in India :p
Thanks GS!
In the first instant you could have called the cops
Yeah, that would have been big help to the lady. :)
If the cops find out that she was drunk, she would have been treated to the choiciest of abusive language and if lucky a dose or two of the cop's baton too...
yeah yeah - it will not be possible to figure that out :D
especially if it is a female :o
What you did was the right thing,to teach a lesson to people like these,who get into trouble knowing the consequences.
Still I would say you have a good and great heart,other wise very few people come forward to help some one like this.
@Sharda - Thanks!!! :)
Its not bad to be good!! U could have assessed the situation better and found out that she is drunk. But next time it might be someone who really needs help. So do not hesitate to help.
cheers
@Vinod
Hi.
Welcome to my blog.
'Tis true that I could have ascertained whether she was drunk, but consider these...
1. 50-ish "lady"
2. Dressed very decently
3. Lying unconcious in Bus Stop.
Which of the above do you think could have been a clue to her drunkeness?
Interesting. Just your bad luck. One should not infer from this that all old ladies are like that. A majority of them are likely to be geunine cases. This seems more an exception than rule though in today's world one never knows.
Hi! Just want to say what a nice site. Bye, see you soon.
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Just a factual correction.. "Haar ki Jeet" was written by Sudarshan. This is one of most influential stories from my childhood.
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... Haar Ki Jeet (Actually by Sri Sudershan, not by Munshi Premchand) actually predicted what would happen on our highways... God forbid, if your vehicle is stranded due to some reason, no matter how hard you wave, nobody will stop !
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