Its been a month. I ve read 3 books since but haven't had the time to write a review. Other things on mind. No, i m not writing a book review today. I had a blissful and an unexpected holiday. Unadulterated quality time with amma, daddy and my dog for a week. But time does not stand still. I had to get back. I was travelling on the train from the made over Coimbatore to the culture hub Baroda. Takes an agonizing 34 hours. Seems sinful to waste such time sometimes. At the end of 12 hours, one keeps checking the watch hour after hour. Gets bored and starts observing people around. That s just what i did. I had a nice friendly family with me. Exuberant 12 year old son and a very gratified 16 year old daughter back from a joshing vacation. A bubbly mom of 2 and a wonderful father.
I was getting bored. My feet were itching to alight the train and walk the length of the platform by the 20th hour. But i remembered my mom's affectionate admonitions. I resisted and continued watching the people. Just when i was wondering why some people choose to swear in public ( upon overhearing the conversation in the next bay. An angry young man threatening someone at the other end. God knows who!!), this bit of talking between the Exuberant Kid and The Bubbly Mom caught my ears.
The conversation goes something like this,
Mom( looks out the window)- " Beta(son), look there s a train on the other track.
Son-" Train is empty ma."
Mom-" I think they are going to clean the train"
Son-" Where will an empty train go?"
Mom- " The train will move once its cleaned and ready. Lots of people will use the train. Trains are cheaper and comfortable beta"
Son- " They should probably plant some bombs on the train while its empty. ( Roars with laughter) Many people will die( Again laughs his head off.)
Mom- Laughs ridiculously and tells me," My son is so funny"
The conversation rang in my ears throughout my journey. All along, i was thinking, " Have we any value left for human life?" And i was scared of the answer that stared right up at me. I knew it was a no. I found it hard to accept. This unjustified killing or rather organised massacre of lay people is so not hunky dory. Ok that said and done, is it ok to laugh out loud on a bomb blast? From where did the idea of planting hideously perilous explosives come to the mind of a 12 year old? I mean, is that where we are heading to? Aren't we supposed to nurture better human beings? Have we digressed so much that we ve forgotten to teach our kids the value of life? The value of anything at all. We have stooped down to immeasurable depths in terms of integrity, love and trust.
I was left dumbfounded. And it did not stop there. The family carried enough food to feed some 6 people. And still, they bought everything on the train. The daughter simply refused to eat the biriyani that her father affectionately bought. Reason- colour is not so great. They probably wasted food that could have filled another two stomachs. That kind of thing was not admissible when i was sixteen. I am twenty five today and its still not acceptable to me.
We are a generation of people who take things for granted. A spawning of homosapiens dunked neck deep in technology, passion for power and conceit.All we think of is us. All we want is the best for us. We simply refuse to accept that there are less fortunate people among us who do not have the appurtenance of eating three meals a day. We are blind to the bitter truth that there are many among us who will pay an arm and a leg to sleep in that cozy bed of ours. We simply don't appreciate the little things in life granted to us without even a pee-wee of an effort. We see terrorist attacks as a platform for discussing our voting prerogatives. We don't think that one among us could have been in that carnage.
Its time we all grew out of our "Cool And Hep Selves". Its time we saw beyond I Phones, Facebook, Pizzas and Expensive Fishing Holidays . Its time to stop and think about people around us. It s time we all came of age and share a little of the excess we have all accumulated. Someone s always out there to benefit from that teeny weeny excess. So this year, lets all give and live. The giving need not be material. You can give love, warmth, understanding, why, even a little bit of your happiness. We need not be Mata Haris to do that, do we??
I was getting bored. My feet were itching to alight the train and walk the length of the platform by the 20th hour. But i remembered my mom's affectionate admonitions. I resisted and continued watching the people. Just when i was wondering why some people choose to swear in public ( upon overhearing the conversation in the next bay. An angry young man threatening someone at the other end. God knows who!!), this bit of talking between the Exuberant Kid and The Bubbly Mom caught my ears.
The conversation goes something like this,
Mom( looks out the window)- " Beta(son), look there s a train on the other track.
Son-" Train is empty ma."
Mom-" I think they are going to clean the train"
Son-" Where will an empty train go?"
Mom- " The train will move once its cleaned and ready. Lots of people will use the train. Trains are cheaper and comfortable beta"
Son- " They should probably plant some bombs on the train while its empty. ( Roars with laughter) Many people will die( Again laughs his head off.)
Mom- Laughs ridiculously and tells me," My son is so funny"
The conversation rang in my ears throughout my journey. All along, i was thinking, " Have we any value left for human life?" And i was scared of the answer that stared right up at me. I knew it was a no. I found it hard to accept. This unjustified killing or rather organised massacre of lay people is so not hunky dory. Ok that said and done, is it ok to laugh out loud on a bomb blast? From where did the idea of planting hideously perilous explosives come to the mind of a 12 year old? I mean, is that where we are heading to? Aren't we supposed to nurture better human beings? Have we digressed so much that we ve forgotten to teach our kids the value of life? The value of anything at all. We have stooped down to immeasurable depths in terms of integrity, love and trust.
I was left dumbfounded. And it did not stop there. The family carried enough food to feed some 6 people. And still, they bought everything on the train. The daughter simply refused to eat the biriyani that her father affectionately bought. Reason- colour is not so great. They probably wasted food that could have filled another two stomachs. That kind of thing was not admissible when i was sixteen. I am twenty five today and its still not acceptable to me.
We are a generation of people who take things for granted. A spawning of homosapiens dunked neck deep in technology, passion for power and conceit.All we think of is us. All we want is the best for us. We simply refuse to accept that there are less fortunate people among us who do not have the appurtenance of eating three meals a day. We are blind to the bitter truth that there are many among us who will pay an arm and a leg to sleep in that cozy bed of ours. We simply don't appreciate the little things in life granted to us without even a pee-wee of an effort. We see terrorist attacks as a platform for discussing our voting prerogatives. We don't think that one among us could have been in that carnage.
Its time we all grew out of our "Cool And Hep Selves". Its time we saw beyond I Phones, Facebook, Pizzas and Expensive Fishing Holidays . Its time to stop and think about people around us. It s time we all came of age and share a little of the excess we have all accumulated. Someone s always out there to benefit from that teeny weeny excess. So this year, lets all give and live. The giving need not be material. You can give love, warmth, understanding, why, even a little bit of your happiness. We need not be Mata Haris to do that, do we??
Loved the write up to every bit :)
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