I am ashamed......

Life has its own way of teaching us the brutal realities that form the world. I am sharing 2 incidents that I have experienced.
2 major incidents that have shocked me, ashamed me and devastated my belief that one day things will become better.

INCIDENT 1:
I was travelling in a bus in Chennai when I saw the conductor scolding and threatening to hit a 5 year old boy if he din pay for his ticket. The cost-- a paltry Rs.2.  What shcoked me was not , how the conductor behaved ( i took him to task , thats another matter!!!) but the absolutely cold and disgusting indifference shown by the supposedly educated people of society. The kid was being shouted at and due to my lack of knowledge of tamil i cudnt find out what all abuses the bastard conductormust have hurled at the kid. I jumped up to him and took the kid aside. and asked him to sit. I took out a Rs. 10 note and shoved it in the conductor's hand. As I started moving away the conductor asked me what is that for?? I turned around and due to my Delhi upbringing gave him some of the choicest of hindi abuses I cud think of and told him in hindi,
"2 rupaye teri ticket ke, 8 rupaye is bachche ki taraf se teri aukaat ke liye!!!'. Then I turned around and asked the people why all of them were silent when this conductor wasnt showing any decency towards the kid. I asked them , if what i did was the morality lecture they pass on to their kids why the hypocricy of looking the other way and avoiding conflict!!! I got nothing but some muted abuses and a cold look from everyone!! To be honest If I had a machine gun I wud have shot everyone then and there!!!  The next stop came and I took the kid with me. It was Adyar bus depot and I took the kid to one of the many street food outlets behind the main bus stand!!!  There I asked him what he wud like to have!!  I ordered a plate of rice and started conversing with him in broken tamil.  His name was Satya, and he was from Velachery. His mother was no more and he lived with his father and brother. Studied in some govt school in chennai and was in his uniform still without slippers. I was speaking to him when the restaurant owner came up to me with the rice and gave me a smile!. Seeing Satya eat , I wondered how many Satyas are there in this country who suffer humiliation everyday to earn a decent living and we " the refined educated upperclass " ppl keep trampling their little dreams under a misplaced sense of superiority. I asked for the bill but the restaurant owner simply said," Saar its ok, we hardly come across something like this. U dont need to pay for this." The way it  was said, he connected this with himself at a level. I just returned a thanks and gave Satya a Rs. 50 note and asked him to take an auto and told the autowalah that,"n case this kid doesnt reach his home safely ur damned auto is going straight to the police compound. I have ur number." Satya sat happily and blew a kiss to me!!  I just saw him go away happily!!!  I dont know if he will remember me ever but I ran back to my apartment building and went straight to the terrace and broke down!!  I t was more of helplessness than anything else!!  I was completely shaken up by the casual attitude which ppl displayed towards something that is incorrect!!  But maybe thats what I think!!!

INCIDENT NO.2
I was to visit a friend's place in Connaught place , New Delhi to attend his sister's birthday celebration. I took my car and reached his place. Maybe it was the traffic, or the incessant chatter on the radio or my cynicism that I had gotten a bit cranky along the way. This friend is fairly well to do and lives in one of the posh localities of Delhi which is over parked with cars and has bungalows on both sides of the road!! I bought a bouqet for his sister and was parking my car in front of his door. He came out with another friend and was helping find some space on the road. The three of us had met after a long time so started chatting and pulling each other's leg when we saw something that totally numbed us. We saw a man driving his scooter with his wife riding pillion suddenly get off the scooter and dragging his wife. He started slapping her and abbusing her. He hit her 4-5 times on the head and the blows were so hard we could here the sound. We saw the woman falling on the road. The brutality did not stop there as the man proceeded to hold her by the hair and pulling her to stand up. We three said enough is enough and ran towards them. We blasted the guy and separated the two of them. I saw the woman having bruises on her faces and the husband apparently drunk. I dont know if it was natural or induced but I clenched my teeth and experienced a blood rush towards my brain. One friend tried to help the woman find a seat and the two of us confronted the man. The conversation went like this -:

The man: Mere ghar ke maamle mein mat pado!! kaun ho bey tum!!

Us: saale apni biwi ko maarte hue sharam nhn aati!!!  police ko bulaake jail karwaa denge tujhe samjha!!!

The man : Bulaao saale police ko , tum ko phansaya nhn naa to batana!!!

Us:  beep beeep beeeep!!!  saale namard !!! aurat ko maarke mard banta hai!!! hai dum toh aa !!!

The man(approaching us!!) : Tum ho kaun beyy!!  yahaan pe 4 log khade hain unhone kuchh nhn kaha!! tum kya meri biwi ke yaar lagte ho!!!

Us: ABey 2 take ki aukaat nhn hai teri!! apni biwi ke baare mein bakwaas kar raha hai!!!  beep beeeep!!!!  teri maa ki aankh!!! tu jail gaya saale!!!

The man approached us and we three were locked and almost came to blows when others intervened!!!  The man did not stop and still approached and this time both of us had decided if he touched us then fuck jail, fuck everything!!

The something happened that I hadnt expected, something that ran a chill down my spine and had me in absolute despair!! His wife, badly beaten and bruised came up to us and said," Please leave him, he is my husband!!  jaane dijiye!!"  We were too stunned to react!!! We let the man go and the bastard kept on saying," Saale agli baar mile toh rape case mein andar karwa dunga!!!" He was taken away by his wife and we just stood there wondering what were we fighting for!!!!

To say that these are 2 big incidents is a gross understatement of the actual problem. We as a nation have internally become so spineless that we have accepted injustice as a part of life. We live with it, we commit it, we abet it and we choose to ignore it. But when it comes to standing up to it, we dont , why? because who wants to get his/her hands dirty!!! who wants 'faaltu ka naatak'. So if in the above two incidents you end up hating the conductor and the husband , please think of the last time , you discussed a problem but only tried to sound intelligent by showing off an opinion but failed to act on it. When the last time you saw the television and said , so much injustice , what is the country becoming really??  When you saw something happen on the road and became a part of the crowd to enjoy the 'tamasha'.? Think about it!!

Are we the problem???  Yes

Are we the solution ??? Yes

Then why the problem??  We, us , ourselves!!

To think , that I am in my own small manner contributing to the problem, is something I hate about myself and because of this very fact I am ashamed !!!!