Wish someone helped...

I was waiting for my doctor at the hospital, visibly bored and a little irritated due to the delay in my appointment. The hospital happened to be near the road, busy with traffic adding to my agony. Reading was not an option thanks to the very high decibel level and all I could do was to look outside window and watch the traffic whirling dervish with energy.

The throbbing, pulsating traffic at the road below, reflected frenzied pace of the city. My attention was grabbed by an old couple's struggle to cross the road which seemed like Herculean task! The couple kept trying several times but in vain! It must have been a few minutes and I heard a loud thud. A bus trying to overtake a car, misjudged the vehicle near it and collided with a handcart, loaded with vegetables. The handcart puller, hurled into air and tumbled on the road, his goods lay strewn all around. The traffic came to stand still, causing deafening turmoil.

People started getting restless, thinking about the delay and started shouting at the cart puller to clear the road that he was blocking. Nobody ventured out of their vehicles to rescue the cart puller from his incredibly skewed predicament! The poor man, terrified with sheer helplessness, stared at his damaged cart and started getting nervous and scared with each abuse hurled at him. After a while, a group of eunuchs, who ask for alms at the traffic signal, rushed to the site and helped the bleeding cart puller, gather his normal self.  Soon, a traffic police arrived. After exchanging some harsh words with the bus driver and the cart puller, he managed to clear the chaos and in few minutes, normalcy ensued on the road.

Something within me snapped after watching this painful episode. I have experienced many situations where people have shown extraordinary behaviour and gone out of their way to help in exigencies like this! But witnessing this accident posed some uncomfortable questions in my mind. I am yet to understand why couldn't anyone show some decency and help the old couple cross the road or the cartpuller get over his shock ? Why nobody spared a few moments to reach out to these people? Why are we so devoid of basic human ingredient called compassion, sometimes? How would people at the accident site behave if they were mauled in a situation like this, instead of that cartpuller? What makes us so insensitive that we become completely detached to suffering of others?

Human behaviour always fascinates me but witnessing this accident was very traumatic.My grandmother's words were ringing in my head while I returned home. She always used to say that we start dying when we stop feeling pain of  people around us!

Pursuit of a smile while travelling...

I love to travel. The complete freedom one gets while travelling alone is amazing ! Since there is not a single soul to talk to, one can indulge in plenty of interesting stuff. The best thing about travelling is observing humanity in action at airline lounges and railway stations. I often get absorbed with it ! These places serve as great laboratories for studying people that provide great insight into human nature. In all these years, I have observed many interesting phenomena about human behavior that transcend borders, religion and race. One of the most interesting observations, worthy of discussion and exploration is:
There is dearth of spontaneous smiles... 

I have a compulsive habit of counting spontaneous smiles that I come across. When I travel, it becomes a frenzied pursuit. I'm consumed with the adventures and struggles of searching for a happy face that radiates smile which comes from heart, reflects through the glint in the eyes and touches the soul! Amid hundreds of people that one sees, a genuine smile becomes a rare treasure! And if one is fortunate enough to find one, it is mostly from a child or an old person! I often notice a look portraying troubled self absorption that has almost become a universal expression worn by most of the faces! Rarely do I find some laughter at the airports or railway stations! Why don't we exchange smile with a complete stranger? What are we so afraid or absorbed with really? A smile is such a beautiful expression, establishing an instant connection between people and yet we use it sparingly !

Everyday, one comes across ample of reasons to smile, if we are open enough to embrace them! A beautiful scenery, a kind face, a sweet gesture by a complete stranger, a bright day or a toothless smile from an old lady sitting across the street, are some of the perfect ingredients for bringing smile on any face ! However, I must admit, to find a reason to smile is all in head. The gray matter up there that controls our actions needs to be given very clear instructions to smile. And it works! When we start seeing smiles beyond everything in life, doesn't it miraculously starts feeling much better?

The count of genuine, spontaneous smiles that I noticed during my travel last week is four. I saw hundreds of faces and noticed only four spontaneous smiles! Well, so what ? I'm celebrating with a Dutch truffle pastry. And that has certainly brought a lovely smile on my face! 

The sky is shrinking...

I am at my bedroom window, enjoying cup of coffee and gazing at the evening sky. It is tranquil and there is some magical pull about this sky that I am drifted to always. I look forward to experience these few moments of bliss. It is like being in trance ! For those few moments, everything around me stops to exist. Whether it is the mad traffic on the road and its loud honking, the noise children make while playing at the garden below or the adjacent cacophonous construction site, nothing can obliterate sheer serenity of silence. And these moments of stillness within me are packed with loads of positive energy and reflection that I enjoy immensely. In city like Mumbai, it is a great privilege to have a beautiful view of the sky from home or work place. Gleaming skyscrapers, the symbol of pursuit of dreams, stand proudly in this land of opportunities. The ever increasing height of the buildings seems to be solution for the metropolis where land is sparse. The suburban sprawl reflects the essence of the city. Over the period of past few years, many skyscrapers have started block my view of the sky to some extent. The sky that I see is fragmented amid the maze of tall buildings. I know, congestion is a very common urban phenomenon. I feel sad when I miss out opportunity to witness the eternally changing treasure trove of beauty of the sky - the changing colours, forms, textures, like a freshly painted canvas that I used to observe, has started missing some of its pieces due to this vertical growth of the city. All I wish is, on a routinely frazzled day, when I'm swamped by work, interruptions, hassled by my kid, phone calls, errands and chores, I get to pause and breath and marvel at the vastness of the sky for few moments. At night, when I wake up suddenly, I wish to be  able to strike a silent conversation with the flawless, subdued sky and get spellbound by its dazzling beauty ! The sky has been a great companion always. It always embraces me with arms wide open, without any judgement and for those few moments, I am absolutely calm. It is a spiritual experience that I don't wish to let go. I know, my share of the sky is shrinking subtly and wonder how long would I be able to hold on to it?

Vision beyond sight !!

"Didi, which color you like most?" I was completely surprised with this innocent question. How do you discuss colors with someone who has never seen any, in his life? I was at the annual exhibition of Happy Home & School For The Blind, surrounded by visually challenged little angels. Life sometimes poses very interesting situations that compel us to visit different space in our minds that are never visited before and gives us very interesting perspective!

"Well, I like all the colors. But, if I were to tell you my favorite ones, then they would be blue and yellow." I replied carefully, bit nervous wondering how would I explain these colors if I am asked to. "They are very nice colors indeed didi, said another child, but my favorite is orange, the color that one sees in the sky just when the sun is about to set." I was speechless thinking about how someone could talk about color without having seen it!

Welcome to Happy Home & School For The Blind, to understand that. The moment you enter the premises, you notice two things instantly; absolute cleanliness and divine positive vibes! Every year, this school organizes the exhibition and that's when you can see what these talented children are really capable of! They create  stunning artifacts in ceramic, pottery, mosaic, wood-work , handlooms and carpentry. You can actually see some of them making those beautiful pieces at the exhibition.

I met a few volunteers and committed teachers, attending visitors at the exhibition and guiding the boys see their beautiful creations through touch. Each child was given a few minutes to see (feel) the work and I watched them curiously. They were absolutely disciplined, handled every piece carefully and were very polite in their conversation. It was amazing how they perceived each piece through touch, trying to "feel" it and asked several questions enthusiastically. Perhaps, that is how they learn about their immediate environment, from what they hear, touch, feel but can't see!

After I was done with my shopping, I spent some time with boys making greeting cards and pottery. They were a bunch of happy, care free, confident and mischievous children, typical of their age. Each one telling me proudly what they had made for the exhibition, about which all games they loved playing and some suggested that I visit them more often. Its only after I promised more visits, they let me go! I was all charged up and overwhelmed by their positive spirit and deeply touched by their innocent smiles and warmth.

Most of these children were blind, a few of them were even partially blind with multiple impairments and yet here they were, going about life as if there was absolute no handicap at all!! Wonder how many of us have this kind of attitude despite having everything in abundance? That is one of the reasons why I never miss out such occasions. It helps me keep a check on myself. Such divine interludes really make us value what we have and be thankful for it!

Have you seen those angels?

The last time I met Chhotu, he was a boy with beautiful smile, had a glint in his eyes and loads of enthusiasm despite the brutality of the circumstances he lived in. I met him about a fortnight back, after months and was disturbed to notice the drastic change in him. He looked sullen, the smile was gone and his face looked too mature for his age. I was wondering what must have happened in all these months in the world of this boy, barely nine! When I asked him about it, he told me that one of his friends had gone missing and that he feared that the friend might have fallen into wrong hands.

Before I share his story further, let me introduce you to Chhotu. He is one of the children you would find roaming at C.S.T station at Bombay. Everyday, hundreds of  children come to this city from every part of the country and struggle for survival on the streets, railway stations and other public places. Generally, we look at them with disdain, assume that they are criminals and ignore their existence completely. Chhotu and his friends clean railway compartments of the local trains and sometimes receive money from some kind passengers. Most of these children have escaped their homes to avoid abusive parents or have been left alone to fend for themselves by their families.

I distinctly remember meeting Chhotu and his friends first time, during one of my rare travels by local train. They were in my compartment, giggling, sharing jokes about the absurdities of their life and laughed at me in unison when I stopped them from standing too close to the gate of the train. However, when I insisted, they listened to me and that worked wonderfully, as ice breaker. I probed about their life and soon we all got talking. After we reached C.S.T station, I offered to buy them food and clothes. Chhotu immediately asked me if I could arrange for medical help instead, for one of his friends who happened to be ill and was absent that day. Once, everything they needed was taken care of, I spent some time talking to them. And in those moments of sharing I learnt about their pain, insecurities, loneliness, confusion regarding their identities and their constant struggle to cope up with displacement and dissonance that was part of their everyday life.

When I asked Chhotu, if any action was taken to search his friend, he started crying inconsolably. No words were enough to heal the wound of Chhotu's loss. Words like, "don't worry, everything will be alright" would have been blatant betrayal as we both knew that once a child went missing from such place, he never returned. I offered him his favorite soup and a food packet and tried to talk about life in general. He managed a smile, a futile attempt at concealing all his suffering. I stayed with him for sometime and then had to leave with heavy heart, as I was already delayed for my meeting.

Its hardly few days since I met Chhotu but his sad, empty eyes haunt me. I dread to think about many more Chhotus who are all around us but succumb to anti social elements and vanish in oblivion for the sake of survival. I am aware of the political, social, economical and cultural factors responsible for criminal, inhuman condition of millions of people including children. What bothers me most is the way we have become comfortably NUMB about this issue!!! Do we really value human life ? When I come across little angels like Chhotu everyday, I very much doubt it.