They who don't realize what they have...

  It was a sunny Monday afternoon and the sun God must have gone crazy that day. As I drove to a lunch appointment, I could feel the heat passing through the windscreen and literally blistering my arms and face. Even with the car air conditioning at full I couldn't escape the wrath of God that day. Amidst the helplessly accepted honking, I faintly remember hearing the radio presenter saying that the temperature is clocking 44 degree Celsius or 111 degree Fahrenheit ( for our friend from West). If you have been lucky and never faced such temperature, facing winds at this temperature can give fatal heat strokes if not taken precautions. Coming out of Nat geo channel, at this point I was sitting comfortably inside the car and could only imagine how it would it be to stand outside and face the brunt of nature. From a distance, I saw the Sony World junction approaching ahead and prepared myself to forcefully spend at least 5-10 mins at the infamous red light. Though it's recognized but cursing makes me keep peace with my self. After a few mins I reached the stop sign me and my buds call the "point of no return". In this case our patience!!!

While sitting there and losing my patience to the black hole, I started observing a regular group of less fortunates( I hate to use the B word) running to the people sitting in scores of cars, bikes and public transports asking for money. I usually keep some spare change in the cigarette ash tray (Now that doesn't mean I don't  smoke but definitely not in the car) for buying small stuff from people selling off the street. If you've noticed, since the last few years many people now sell on the streets. These could be from small gift items, daily utility items to books and magazines. If you look at most, you can easily figure out that these are the now reformed "less fortunate" who must have been approached by some small unit of a much larger nexus (purposely chose the word) of NGOs. The arrangement would be have been simple, you sell these items(that some smaller vendors probably can't sell off TSN , famous Tele Shopping Network)  for us and we'll give you a daily wage. They in turn will get big profits directly from the companies. That could explain why we don't see everyone latching on to this idea and earning a decent living. I'm no judge!!!

Among the group I saw a young boy, probably about 15 yrs, running from 'prospect' to 'prospect' asking for money. Undeterred by the frowns and the curses he was able enough to convince the few faint hearted for some coins. At the same time I noticed an old man with no legs desperately trying to drag him across the street and reach up to the windows of the cars and to the pillion riders. Not to guess that he wasn't really successful to do his sales no.'s for the stop light. Seeing his condition, reached out to a currency note hanging out of my "money box" and I thought I should give it to him. As much as I am against giving money to these people, I couldn't ignore the plight of this man. To help him, I honked and waved my hand at him. He turned towards the direction where he thought the sound came from and was delighted to see my pitiful face and more necessarily the ten rupee note in my hand. He forced himself to react as quickly as he could to reach my car. Suddenly the traffic light turned to green and the sweet sound of Oliver Lucas's simple invention of a steel diaphragm and electro magnate done in 1910, surrounded the entire areas. The kids of the traffic devil started moving. At this point I was concerned about getting the ten rupee note to this man. I saw the cripples face turning red with confusion and fear. He looked up at me for one last time and dragged himself back to the pavement on the other side of the road. I felt saddened. However, even before I could take the moment and let the irony of life seek in to my heavy heart, I saw the other young boy suddenly appearing next to my car running and reaching out for the ten rupee note. Which was still in my out stretched hand. By that time I didn't mind him taking it from me. I drove off with a different outlook to the life of the les malheureux.

I reached my destination and the memories of this incident became lucid during the day. I recall it was about  8pm when I was coming back home. We had plans to meet a good friend and his wife over dinner. I wanted to pick some flowers from the florist next to the coffee shop near the "PONR" crossroad. As I approached the stop sign I looked out of the window to the other side of the road. My attention was diverted by a group of young and middle aged men standing beside the liquor shop. They were shabbily dressed and were swearing and shouting. I was about to ignore the irritants when I saw the young boy from the morning. He was shouting and drinking as if he was basking a hard day’s work. As I left him with them, there was only one thought in my mind - What a waste of a perfectly good human life...

Somewhere feeling cheated and fooled, I passed the crossroad and went ahead. As I passed the crossroad, I saw the cripple waiting at the same side of the road expecting the traffic signal to turn red soon. It was clear that it was another day he couldn't get enough to retire for decent meal. A similar yet far contrast in life.

The thought still lingers somewhere in my head - Those who don't realize what they have got.....