A Few Good Men

The world is divided into classes, based on socioeconomic system, based on education, based on color of skin and numerous other ways humans can think of satisfying their emotion that wants us to portray goodness over others. It's a human desire to somehow show I'm-better. I'm richer, I'm fairer, I'm smarter, I'm faster etc. are emotions that constantly hover around our mind as flies buzzing around a pile of dump. A rather strong analogy but whenever I'm suffering from any of these I've to say I'm dumping my mind with s%#t. 

I'm an optimist but seeing a world full of bias and hatred sometimes is too overwhelming if given a chance to sink into the layers of my heart. In a world where the apparent ridiculousness of society can be measured by the malarkey of the media that is considered the voice of the society. This "coldness" was pointed out by Nicholas Kristooff in his NY Times column where new media was ready to discuss absurd conspiracy theories about a tragic aircraft accident of Malaysian Airlines but it wasn't even sparing a few minutes to a bigger news about over two hundred missing Nigerian girls abducted by a militant group.

This is a pessimistic view of the society! This post is like one of those doomsday movies where everything has been lost in the future but a lone knight is carrying the torch of hope that would rekindle hope in the society. I'm not overstating but I felt a similar emotion after I heard a few words coming out of a middle-aged man sitting in a shared tempo (a local conveyance in some cities in India) in Mathura. The tempo that's made to seat six persons was cramped with knees of fellow passengers trying to find a comfortable spot. 

I had boarded the tempo vikram (a common vehicle across the state of Uttar Pradesh) to travel from Mathura to Vrindavan. It's a cheap form of conveyance and readily available at any point in the city. However you've to resign your feelings of business-class comfort and just think of it as a vehicle that takes you from point A to point B. You just sit and wait for your stop. As the vehicle crisscrossed its way through the crowded roads of Mathura I was trying to hang onto something to survive the ride. The tempo jumped through speed breakers at neck-breaking speed with loud music blaring out of the speakers. It's a ride!

An old lady beckoned the tempo and with desperate eyes she was trying to figure out a place for herself. I looked on both sides and the elbows sticking to each other indicated I had no place on my side. An elderly couple was sitting on the other side. The husband was a middle-aged guys who was probably on his first pilgrimage to Mathura. And his wife looked equally excited perhaps because it was her idea to visit the land of Shri Krishna or just that she was enjoying her time out!

The Wife looked at the old lady and with perplexed eyes looked tried to indicate - "there is no place here, sorry". But if there is one thing Indians are good at is adjusting; so there is always a place for one more. It could have been another case of people "adjusting" for others or it could have been a case of people worried about their own comfort. However what the husband said next made my jaw drop and made me realize that I have so much to learn in the desired quality of humility.

The Husband said "दो मिनट के लिए अपनी मानवता नहीं खोनी चाहिये". This simple sentence essentially means that for small pleasures lets not forget the quality of humanity. Although a simple sentence it reassured my faith in humanity. In my biased eyes I hadn't expected that from a person. A human is looking at other person as a human too; not just another person but a living being who is equal. I wouldn't try to add meaning to his sentence but would leave it to the readers to extract their own lesson.