Today was a girl’s day out. It is like a weekly ritual among my friends. We go out for movie or lunch or just some window shopping. The main motive is to spend some quality time together. I had college today, so we attended two classes and bunked the rest and went for a Bollywood movie called “Dostana”. The story throws light into the life of two guys who pretend to be gay so that they can live in the apartment of this beautiful girl. And the reason for their action being the fact that the girl is conservative and doesn’t want to share her apartment with guys. But as they are gays, she has nothing to worry about. It’s a mundane movie but manages to be funny at certain points. After the movie we went to KFC, as all of us are chicken-tarian (as we tend to call ourselves). Then we gawked at some BMW’s in a showroom. In short, it was a day full of fun and not a pinch of worry.
When I came back home, I was just making my tornado-hit bed and introspecting… just going over my day and thinking over all I did today. One incident that pulled my heartstrings … While we were entering the movie theatre, a female with her kid approached us. She was dressed in clothes close to rags and her kid had the hungry-stressed-forever, kind of expression. And she was begging for money. Now my friend quickly gave her some pennies so that we wouldn’t be late for the movie.
You know how I would have reacted? I wouldn’t have met her eyes. I would have felt repulsive towards her and would try to get away from her. I wonder why I feel this way for that lady, who is a normal human being with a life like my own? Just because I dress pretty and posses resources that satisfy my needs and desires gives me no right to look down upon her. And you know what came as an answer?
I don’t want to be her. It’s like being near her gives me the feeling as to what would happen if I end up like her. What would happen if I have a kid from some guy who walks out on me and leaves me and my kid alone in this world with no one to turn to? Turning my face from her… as if she’s some creature that is to be pitied and not loved or respected. So the moral of the story is she would be left even more alone and she would give up hope and would god-knows even try committing suicide.
With the recession going on, job security is so minimal. You never know when you are chucked out of your job. Citibank fired 54,000 people world wide. Even though the number is not that huge compared to our trillion populations but if you zero it down to the lives that it is affecting. I admit it’s very scary. 54,000 people with families, with dreams and their specific lifestyles. There life is all suddenly in chaos.
In a discussion with financial analysts the Queen of Britain questioned them, “How could you miss such a phenomenon (recession) when it was in its initial stages?” If I were to answer her, I would say, we are so confined in our own heavenly cocoons that we ignore the person who is suffering. We try not to help as long as it doesn’t affect us personally. In Aristotle famous quote, “Man is a social animal. A man who lives alone is either God or a beast.” And it, to be honest, points to my beastly attitude towards the woman whom I refused to help.
I can never thank God for what he’s done for me and given me. But how many times have I helped someone else without any ulterior motive? Sadly, I can’t remember even one occasion.
I have come across so many people who do not posses adequate resources for a sustainable development. What scares me the most, their eyes. If you look at them, they are as transparent as to what they have gone through in their lives. The scared feeling if they will have enough food for the day. Stressed, whether they will be able to feed their improvised families. Given up on hope and love. Given up on the people that surround them. People who don’t look at them and just glance over them as if they don’t exist. Given up on people who think watching movies is more important than saving a soul.
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