To sin by silence when we must protest makes cowards of men.

Is the world ending today?

Metaphorically it's nearing the end.

Because a girl doesn't feel safe of venturing out anymore. Because getting on a wrong bus can have as dangerous results as getting raped. Because the world doesn't stop to help you reach a hospital. Because you are treated like a rag doll by not just the ones who raped you but also by others who blame you for the rape. Because the police still hasn't caught the absconding cowards. And to top it all, this happened in the streets of the capital of India. I have no remorse in saying that humanity has ended.

And I say I have no remorse because we get enough of it from our politicians, police, carriers of justice and the countless other people in society who simply express remorse on every incident of assault carried not on any man or woman in this country. We are done with your sympathies.

Oh! And sympathies? Let's not get into it.

Our police and politicians issue warnings to women.

Don't go out at night!
Don't travel alone!
Don't wear clothes which may even be slightly inappropriate!

Somehow it is always construed to be the woman's fault.

Instead of blaming us for it all, do you people mind taking any steps to improve the society we are living in, to implement our laws effectively so that not even one of these social menaces dare harm us.

And I'm not saying only the men of our society have lost all shame and empathy.

Just today, while our teacher was announcing a candlelight march as a mark of silent protest during our tuition hours, I overheard this conversation :

Girl 1 -  What is he talking about?
Girl 2 - A march for the Delhi rape victim.
Girl 1 - Was she a CA student?
Girl 2  - No.
Girl 1 - Then why is he bothering us?

I have no words to express what I felt then.

It is time we did something about it. Yes, we. We, as humans, and not as the public, politicians, police, army men, but we as humans need to revive the humanity we seem to have lost.

It is never the wrong time to do the right thing.

But literally, will the world end or not? More than that should it or shouldn't it?

Experiencing shock waves in a bus!

The other day, while on my way back from office, I found an empty seat near an elderly man in the bus.
Few minutes later, a petite young woman came and stood beside me. Within a minute she asked the gentleman to get up!
Surprised, I looked up at her and she pointed towards the plank which read "Reserved for ladies".

The gentleman might have been hard of hearing because he didn't respond. At first, she started muttering to herself and then she actually asked me, "Can't he hear or what?". As if that wasn't enough, some moments later she tapped the man on the shoulder and told him, "This seat is reserved for ladies. Please get up."
"I am a handicapped person.", he said softly.
Undeterred she repeated again, "Go and find yourself a seat. This is only for women."
After a minute or two, whether embarrassed or frustrated, I don't know, he got up from there. When I offered him my own seat, he politely refused. On seeing he wasn't even being able to stand in the moving bus, a young man seated near got up for him.


I don't know whether this is a regular affair in buses, but I was shocked! Have our manners and values really gone this down the drain?!

The precious smiles!

My day started like it usually does on all working days. The same rush to leave, inevitably getting late, getting a bus in the nick of time! But it surely wasn't meant to be the same after that.

Travelling in the mornings by bus means lots of school children too. Some travelling with parents, others in groups without any adult. I saw two young boys today in the same bus as mine. As their stop neared, they held each others’ hands and guided themselves through to the swerving bus's door. One of them started rummaging through his pocket for the exact fare when the conductor smiled at them, and said in Bengali, patting their heads, "You don't have to pay the fare. Leave it. Go to school and study properly, both of you."

Smiling at the incident, I forgot about it as quickly as it had happened.

In the evening after leaving from work, I was waiting for a friend. With nothing to do and not wanting to immerse myself in my cell as always, I started looking around. A young couple was having puchkas nearby. A small child, a beggar’s son, maybe around 5 years old, came begging towards the couple. Immediately, without hesitating or thinking twice, the guy handed over the puchka he was about to eat, to the child. The small child walked away with a smile on his face and such excitement in his eyes, it touched my heart!

It was then that I remembered the incident in the morning. 

It is these little things that we notice on and off which can make even a bad day worth remembering! And am I glad that I noticed not one but two such incidents in a day!

It feels nice to see a little humanity, a little humility and a little care when all you keep reading about in the papers are gruesome stories of crime, ego and passion!