Last Sunday, as I was returning from a quiz competation ( which is, by the way, very very (very) far from the limits of the city..) in a bus, I decided I would give my city a closer look than usual, instead of choosing the easier way of killing boredom, to sleep.
The city has become a big city now.. and I mean a BIG city.. the airport apparently looks marvellous ( I haven’t seen it yet, so the ‘apparently’ comes in). The roads are covered with what they call ‘luxury cars’ and huge malls and big branded stores and many many outlets of several kinds.. I’m impressed..
The city looks fancy and modishly illuminated with the neon (I guess) lights of the many many restaurants and malls and coffee bars and eat outs and every other kind of store or whatever, that I think I can’t even name. For a while, my thinking tube was switched on and I gave it a thought.. ‘Wow! My city is growing.. It has almost taken the shape of an ideal metropolitan.. Bengaluru is growing rich’.. This thought stayed on my mind all along the way till I reached the Hebbal Flyover junction.
Here, I saw this young man with an orange coloured shirt ( I wouldn’t call it rugged, but by the look of it, it was a clear sign of poverty and helplessness) on the other side of the road.. The bus had stopped at a signal, so I had enough time to observe him. He followed a ‘routine’.. As the traffic stopped at the signal, this man would limp across the road to reach the nearest vehicle to hold his hand out for some cheap money. And then, when the traffic would start moving at the wave of the traffic police’s hand. This man would retire and stand aside to get some water to drink.. By the time the traffic stopped again, he would’ve finished two or three sips from his almost empty bottle and then he would get back to ‘work’.
Richness and poverty go so well together, eh? It’s a pity to see such imbalances, especially when they come to sight one after the other.
I went on with my ‘journey’.. As the bus goes into a lane (not away from the main road) I see a young chap talking to an old man.. This old man looked lost.. I don’t know what exactly had happened, but I could make out that there was something wrong with him. This young guy really wanted to help.. He was trying to get him to talk, patting him, assuring and re-assuring that he’d be alright.. The bus didn’t wait for me to see what that guy did to help this old man.. I really wanted to see..
Well, if richness and poverty are in a fix, goodness still exists.. there is hope still left that the world could really grow into a place of genuine goodness.. If they say, ‘money doesn’t matter’.. they should know, goodness does.
So, then we moved on.. My eyes fell on this wine shop (don’t ask me why).. And i noticed that there was a crowd around the stall- all of them, customers.. As I was wondering why so many people wanted their night to end with a bottle or two of wine (or whiskey or vodka or whatever) I noticed a short figure in the crowd.. It was a little boy standing at the stall.. Why would a little boy be anywhere around a wine shop? Not as a customer, I hoped. But, this kid walked out with a cold look at the world holding a whiskey bottle and slowly slipping it into his pocket.
What has the world come down to? Little kids turning out to be devotees of alcohol?And we talk about child rights, etc?
Was I thinking of the world in a different way till now? Was I turning my back to the paradox of life? Had it slipped my mind that it takes all kinds to make the world? Or, is it just that I did not grow up at all to understand these strange faces of the being?
I have no idea why this happened, today.. All these sights in one go…
Can you answer? Do you think you can explain? I’d love it if you do..
Thanks..
