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?!

Marketing "magic"!

On the way to office yesterday, a street vendor got on to the bus I was traveling by (which happens pretty often here) to sell little booklets of general knowledge. The way he appealed to the passengers saying these books have information about all things and for all ages was amusing. Citing that his price was cheaper than the Rs. 3 the shopkeepers charged (he was selling it for Rs.2) and that questions from his booklet appear in all sorts of exams caused many passengers to reach for their money bags. He sold it to as many as 6 customers right in front of my eyes, before I started forming this post! He further went on to say that a cup of tea costs more than his bundle of knowledge and that prospective customers can go through the booklet before buying.

Keeping in mind the literacy level of India and the fact that he was a male one can assume he has been to school at some point in his life. But I'm sure he has not had any lessons in marketing unlike most of the educated lot. Still he's good at it, in fact very good.

These wonderful and unusual things keep happening all around us. We need to notice them more often.

Let's keep trying! :)