Who Cares?

These were the days of Zubin's internship when he was just out of university. On the way back home late night at around 12.30 midnight, he missed his bus and started walking since the distance to his place was not a long one. It was cold winter in Delhi and not a soul was visible on the streets. He reached a bus stop where he saw a few girls standing. His first impression was correct, they were call girls.

He decided act as if he did not see them and increased his pace of walking. They called him and shouted quite a few lines but he decided not giving a shit about it. He could see one of the girls following him but pretended as if he doesn’t know.

Suddenly, that girl increased her pace and caught him. She stopped me and said, "I am not one among them, I swear I just missed cab to my office and I was waiting here till they all appeared". She even showed Zubin the ID card of her office. Now, he was not sure what to do and didn’t know how to react. Before he could say anything, she continued, "Can I walk with you till next bus stop. You know it is not safe being alone; I will get a taxi from next stop and leave." He thought about it and said "OK".

There no really no one on the streets, the police control rooms were either empty or the people on duty were sleeping. Zubin was feeling really discomfited and awkward.

They walked along without even saying a word and reached the next bus stop and there were no taxis. Zubin didn’t say anything and told her that if she wants, he can wait till she gets a taxi. She was a bit reluctant but then, agreed. Zubin was really tired after working and wanted to crash in bed but there he was, waiting for one dam taxi to appear and that too for someone who he didn’t even know. He waited and waited and it was almost 2’O clock midnight and he had lost his patience.

He told her that he ought to leave because he has to reach office at 7.00 AM morning. Zubin could see that she was feeling scared and knew she was alone; still he was adamant on leaving. She said that she will die of fear and he either accompanies her to hostel or wait till she gets a taxi. He got furious thinking why the hell should he help her? Zubin actually didn’t know what to do, to be or not to be. But then, he left without saying a word, not even looking back. He didn’t want to get into any trouble and left.

He went home crashed in bed only to wake up 8.00 AM in morning. He was running late for office and was getting ready. He switched on the TV while he was eating breakfast. And there he saw the news that haunted him for the rest of his life. That very girl he met last night had been raped and murdered on that very road where he left him.

And there was Zubin, crying like a baby, shaking and blaming himself for what had happened. He simply could have changed her fate. We all are just so busy in our lives that we don’t really care. And all that exists is lies, frauds & deception.

According to Mamkol, “Who to blame when we ourselves are a part of this dirty game”?

The Day That Changed It All

Being from the same neighborhood, of the same age group and their families having known each other for years, Daani and Zeezu were meant to be best friends. Their day started together with both walking all the way to school, spending all the time in class together, coming back together and playing in the evenings.

Both the families were poor and for them to afford a school for their kids was something really admirable but the two kids had to walk 3 miles everyday to reach the school. Being just 7 and 8 years old, they were too young to understand why they can’t travel in bus like other kids used to. They would always talk about the day when they would have money to travel in the fast travelling bus that always used to pass in front of their eyes.

One day, both Daani and Zeezu decided to save money so that they can one day afford to go school in that bus. They started saving every penny they would ever get and finally after two months, they managed to save 4 rupees and it was enough for both of them to get a ride to school in the bus. Just to make sure that the money is enough, both got it confirmed from their class mates that the fare was 2 rupees for one person.

So, they selected Monday as the day to board that bus and both of them were really excited. They hardly slept imagining how the experience would be. Both of them woke up early, got ready for the school and waited at the stop for the bus to arrive. It came running and honking as always and both kids just jumped into the bus, sat into it fighting for the window seat and putting their heads out of window to see what difference it made to be on that side. The conductor came and started collecting money from the passengers. When he reached Daani and Zeezu’s seat, the kids realized the money had been stolen from the pocket.

The conductor started abusing the kids, slapped them hard saying that they never had money and called them all the bad names. Both started crying and their dream of traveling in the bus got shattered. Even some people advised to throw the kids out of the running bus to teach them a lesson. There was no one to listen to them and everything seems going the wrong way for them.

Suddenly an elderly man stopped the conductor and shouted at him for beating the kids. He took out his wallet and from the corner of this wallet, took out a 5 rupee note and handed over to conductor as the fare for the two kids. The kids saw that his wallet was full of money – 100, 500, 100, rupee notes. The kids reached school not talking to anyone and that day changed their life altogether.

Daani was of the opinion that GOD was cruel to them and HE is cruel to all poor people. Daani thought that if that rich guy who paid their fare had lost few notes, it wouldn’t have mattered to him but it was these little creatures that had to bear the fruits of that lost money. He then concluded that their is no GOD as such and he refuse to believe that anything like that exists.

Zeezu had a different way of putting that incident. He believed that it was GOD who sent that rich man to help them out of that nasty situation. Things could have been real worse had that rich man not appeared on the scene. He concluded that GOD is always for them no matter what happens.

Today Zeezu is 23 and Daani is 24 but both are poles apart. One believes in GOD and other rejects its existence. One incident changed them both but in real different ways.

According to Mamkol, “You cannot influence the way things take place but you can control the way they influence you”.

'Whose' tomatoes' were they anyways?

A middle aged man went to a vegetable shop and asked for one kilogram of tomatoes. As the man was putting tomatoes into the basket, he realized that a few of them were rotten and asked the vegetable seller to throw them out of the stock otherwise they will spoil the entire lot of tomatoes. The man bought his one kg of the best tomatoes and left. The rotten lot did not belong to him.

Then, the vegetable seller decided to separate the rotten tomatoes from the fresh lot and put them in a basket. After he was done with his work, he threw the basket of rotten tomatoes into the municipal dustbin. So, the rotten bunch didn't belong to him either.

After a while, a pitiable lady with torn clothes saw the basket and started searching for the 'not so rotten' tomatoes in the basket. For her, those tomatoes could prove to be a day's full meal. But as soon as she sat down to check the basket, a goat came running and put her head into the basket to eat the tomatoes. The lady tried to push the goat away but it was not that easy.

Now, we had a fight between a human and an animal for those rotten tomatoes, which any one of us would never even care to look at. The wrestle was on and there was no visible winner. I just stood there to see who is going to have the last say.

Suddenly a big truck came in and I realized it was the Municipality garbage truck that comes to clean the garage bins everyday. Without even looking at what was happening, the driver hooked the big dustbin, lifted it up and landed on his truck and left. Both the poor lady and the goat left the place in a normal manner and then I realized it could have been a usual story for them.

None of them got that lot of tomatoes and may be no one will. But I still think who actually deserved the tomatoes and I cannot find an answer. If you have one, do let me know?

According to Mamkol, “The easiest way to eradicate economic disparity between the people is to kill the poor.”