Two faces of humanity

Just when you feel like your belief on goodness, on humanity will evaporate something like this happens with me that reaffirms my belief on it.  Many a times, i do feel that I have experienced quite a lot, than others of my age, may be i am quite more sensitive to what others feel smaller things, but, such smaller things adds spice to life, it makes your life more complete.

This is a real incident that happened about an year ago, it relates to one of my old friend. We are together since last twenty years or so. He was blessed to have his father around with him till recently, the fact that i sometimes envied, for my dad left me for his heavenly journey quite quite early, and that loneliness always bites even today after sixteen years of his departure. That vaccum will perhaps never fill. Somehow, i looked upon his dad with same kind of respect that i gave to my father, and the man too was a kind hearted one, perhaps, he must have realized my loneliness and would go extra mile to show his care for me. I would feel re-assured with this fatherly figure around.

My friend and i met in our college days and soon became good close buddies and kept in touch with each others till date. To an extent, i owe this government job to my friend, for i was reluctant to apply for government job, it was for his insistence, that he required somebody to accompany his to the exam centre which was far off from our home, that i filled the form. As luck might have had it, i passed off the exam and ended up getting government job, the poor fella was not so lucky though.

His dad was a retired railwaymen, a proud railwaymen, with lots of stories to tell of his career. My dad was an ex-navymen, so when they met, the stories told were entertaining, stories of days gone by, of changing times.

Some two years back, to my shock i learnt from my friend that his dad suffered from cancer and was in last stage of it, with no real possibility of surviving. Railway job ensured that the treatment and travel was free. He was admitted in best of hospitals, but, age now, was not on his side, he was in his 70s and his body was not supporting the cause.The already frail person grew more frail. I could not control my tears to see this lovely man on bed on respirators and needles pricked all over his bodies.

Soon, the doctors gave up, they informed that the man has now only few days left with him and that they better take him back and take good care of his in the last few days of his company. So he was brought back. The man now had already lost his speech, the only part of his body that was seemingly working now was his eyes and his head, he would very slowly nod his head in affirmative or negation to questions asked. I remember, that evening when i with my wife went to see him, i took his hands in my hands and said uncle don’t worry, you will be all right, we wont allow you to go. Streams of tears rolled down the eyes of this old man. I still feel down when i remember the scene.

For next few days, i kept on visiting the friends place quite frequently, may be for i knew that the last person whom i thought resembled my dad, now was with me for very few a days…

One such evening, i do remember just two days before the death of this man, i went straight off from my office to his home. I sat besides the person. He was lying on bed, breathing heavily. His eyes open, looking all around, as if storing everything for his long journey ahead. Surprisingly, enough, his wife, perhaps had resigned to fate, perhaps she knew what was installed. And she did not show that much of emotions. I used to wonder how can someone be so emotionless, especially when you have spent more than half of your life with a person who shared just everything, joy, happiness, sorrows. The thought of living without must have broken this lady, but she was not exhibiting it. One could have given the benefit of doubt to her, saying that she was not showing her sorrow publicly for her kids. But even that lame excuse failed when this happened. Seeing me come, she got up and went to the cupboard and searched for some papers and brought out the bank passbook and gave it to me and in utmost curiosity she inquired with me, what would be the pension that she would get after the death of the man. No, i am not dramatizing events, i am just putting it as straight as i can. I was shocked, I felt sorry, sorry for the poor man who was lying there and seeing all this in front of his eyes. He could not speak but his moist eyes did tell many a stories. How can a person stoop so low, how can a person become so selfish? I got angry on the lady and asked her that evening, how can even she dare to think in these terms at this juncture. May be my friend, realized the gravity of the error, he asked the lady to go away. She went away with the passbook. I felt very bad that evening. That evening the man felt very uneasy and found it difficult to breath. A doctor was called in, he checked the old man and advised my friend to shift the man to the hospital. The doctor advised that though he may not survive, he may at least die an easy death there. But, the friend declined to do so, i felt very bad that day bad for how people stoop so low, thinking for few thousand of rupees that the hospital might have charged they opted for a difficult death to the man. Is there anything called humanity was the only question that evening, I felt very helpless for i was merely a family friend with no powers to decide that evening.

Somehow the man survived that evening, but his conditions had deteriorated and it was evening of Saturday. Soon the realization dawned upon the people there that if the person expired on sunday, getting a death certificate would be next to impossible for the man was not in hospital and no doctor would give a death certificate, added to that Doctor’s clinics remain close on Sundays, as this realization dawned, they started to scout doctors to ask whether they will issue a death certificate if the man died the next day. Just no doctor was ready to give a certificate like this. The standard advise that just all doctors gave was to shift the man to the hospital. The suggestion that was vehemently refused by the friend.

At around 9.00 pm the friend turned up to my house, he told me that it seems that dad might not be able to survive the next day, and he required to ensure that in such a case, the death certificate should be available. I told him let us try with our family doctor. Our family doctor is one of the best person i personally feel, not for his medical knowledge, not for his experience, but for the human values he practices. I took my friend to him, it was around 9.20 pm and the doctor was winding up for the day. I entered his clinic and introduced my friend to him and told all the story in brief and showed the papers. The doctor saw the papers and said he can give the death certificate. But, after a while, he remembered that it was Sunday next day and he would be out of town the next day. He said, even i would not be available tomorrow. The hopes i rested on him almost started fading,  when the doctor seeing this happening, came out with one suggestion, he said, he knew it was not ethical, but it was human, he said, he would need to see the patient first to decide. So we took him to friend’s house. He saw the patient, checked him, again went through all the papers and then took us to another room, we three sat there and the doctor took out his letterhead handed over to me and asked me to write the death certificate, he dictated the words to me, he told me to keep the date and time blank, nobody afterall could predict death.  The doctor signed the blank death certificate. Weird as it may sound, unethical as it may sound, but, i still consider it was one of the most human acts that a doctor could have done.

As fate would have it, the fake certificate was not required, as the old railwayman battled that sunday only to call it a day on monday morning. At around 8 am i got call from my friend that his dad passed off.

The man finally gave it up, he must have left the world with even more heavy a heart, death perhaps might have come to his rescue for living in this world working endlessly to ensure good days for his wife and children brought him naught. The wife and children could not provide the old man few good days in his need of hour.

After this incident, somehow, i have reduced contact with the friend quite a bit. May be the empty house now makes me feel more emptier. That few days showed me how one stooped so low, and the noble act of the doctor showed, how one can still find hope in despair.

Accident that never happened

So this was yet another weekend, i thought i would enjoy relaxing at the cool confines of my home. And wow, it so happened that the extended weekend, friday being a holiday, was kind of fun, with no real mad rush to office and work. I spent the friday almost sleeping. And thought to imitate it the next two days too .  I was almost successful in my plans had the things not panned out the way happened.

It was a lazy saturday evening,  suddenly i thought of doing something adventurous.  After all stepping into the kitchen to prepare something is a kind of adventure for a guy like me who find it difficult even to prepare a cup of tea. My mood was very good and was planning to try my hands at something spicy.

I was almost done, when my cell phone ranged and i got a news that one of our neighbourhood lady met with an accident.  The caller in haste told me to come down and i heard him saying that a truck crushed her legs. The lady was in her late 50s. I handed over the unfinished task in the kitchen to my mom and washed my hand to rush to the accident spot. The accident spot was a road in front of our building. I was surprised how come the lady met with an accident on this crowded road, where the driver may find it difficult to drive even at 20 kms per hour.

On my way, i met a neighbour who is a cop, the poor fellow was  returning from grinding 24 hours duty, visibly tired, he inquired where i was rushing in such a haste. I informed him what i heard, he too told me that he would join me and asked me to wait in the passage of the building.

We all reached the accident spot, by now the lady was taken to the hospital. There was a crowd of onlookers and so called eye witnesses. Some said they saw the truck crushing both her legs, the others said that she was bleeding terribly, some others even prophesied the worst. Adding only confusion, by now many neighbors assembled and we were successful in finding the name of the hospital where the lady was admitted. We all rushed to the hospital which was not that far away.

There we saw the husband of the lady, a visibly shaken man sitting in the waiting room outside, the lady was taken inside for treatment. The couple were retired school teachers, and this noble profession blends into the persona of the teacher. The couple were both very soft and amenable. The husband was totally shaken and he too was repeating the version that others told him, for he too was not at the time when the accident took place.

Slowly the hospital was flocked by neighbors, the relatives and others.  Their son and daughter in law too came from their duties. There was chaos all around, the atmosphere was visibly tense.

After around an hour or so, two unknown persons came searching for the victim’s husband. The man was in his forties and another one in the early thirties. The man introduced him to be the friend of the driver, under whose vehicle the lady had come.  The man expressed his readiness to bear all the expenses for the treatment of the lady. He requested the husband not to stretch the matter to the Police and settle the matter amicably. Hearing this suddenly, the atmosphere changed, it became more animated, the son of the mother became very aggressive and started shouting forgetting that he was in a hospital. He told he would not spare the driver, he would hit him. The police case would be on and he would ensure that the driver was punished.  Both the men who came for settlement became almost speechless hearing this tone.

Soon, however, sanity prevailed, we, myself, and three others including our neighbour who was the cop, took those people downstairs and decided to sort out the matter.  They said they can bear the cost upto Rs.50,000/-. We then returned to the hospital and took the husband of the lady who was a very matured person, aside, and made him ready for the settlement, we convinced him that there was no point in settling scores. The treatment of the lady was of much import. The husband got ready for amicable settlement. Then we took the son aside, cooled his tempers and convinced him, we almost coerced him. He too became ready for settlement.

It was around 10 in the night by then. The doctors had treated, x-rays were taken, and the doctors came out telling that the accident was a minor one, there were only bruises on the toe of the lady and that the truck had not crushed her legs as all claimed.  The lady told the whole story when we met her.  Hearing her side of the story we surmised that the driver was not at fault.

The lady was suffering from joint pains and was also having problems with her eyesight. When she tried to cross the road she got caught between a car and this truck, she was terrified and somehow to save herself she moved backwards, lost her control and fell down, some part of the rear tyre of the truck did bruised her toe, which caused bleeding. But it was not as big an accident as it was made out to be. The people who claimed to be the eye witnesses were on the other side of the road and almost cooked up the stories. The lady was in a shell shock and almost believed that she had been crushed by the truck. As the Doctor said later, that she is in a state of shock that a truck had crushed her legs.

In the thick of the things however, the poor driver was caught by the public and beaten black and blue.  This behavior of the mob, which is on display rather frequently does affirms my belief that inside we all are wild animals.  Almost waiting to tear these garbs of human behavior.  Most of the people who hit the poor driver, who himself was almost in his sixties, did not even know why they were hitting him, they just were venting out their frustrations, their anxieties on this person.   Someone from the mob even did not leave the opportunity to steal the purse of the lady, her belongings, her money and her cell phone all was lost.

Somehow, the driver ran for his life, but he did the sane thing, he went to the Police Station and surrendered himself and informed them what had happened.  The poor guy was returning from a long trip and was returning to his home for a good night sleep.  The police asked him to wait inside the police station and awaited the formal complaint from the hospital. The hospital sent the complaint informing about the accident and the policeman came to take the statement of the lady at around 12 in the night. Since the matter was amicably resolved by both the parties, the husband gave in writing that they do not wish to lodge any complaint and they had settled the mattter. The driver was then allowed to go to his home.

The poor fellow however, got beaten and bruised for almost no fault of his,  on a lighter note, i may add that, he was more hurt than the lady was. But, it becomes, the mob tendency to beat the drivers, assuming that only he was wrong.

At around 11.40 pm we all returned to our homes tired. My plans to prepare something spicy that evening almost went awry. But for my mom who modified the dish and prepared it for my liking. I relished it before taking much deserved break that night.
After all, all’s well that ends well.  :)

Fabricated Crisis

It was that time of the year when there was not much of work to work in office, as such it was one such boring day in office, when we all were lazying around, idlying around with computers, playing some games, intermitently checking mails, both official & personal. However, when, you have nothing worthwhile to do, time passes with snail pace. Everything just stood in its place that day.

At around 2.30 pm in the evening, when we were back from our lunch break. A call came on the Office intercom, one boss in hurried voice, inquired about another boss, whether he was in my room. I answered in negative, hearing his concerned tone, I inquired what had happened. The boss said that the person in question was nowhere to be seen, his cell was out of range and he heard that he fell down on the road with an heart attack while he went to the Bank during the lunch break. The boss added a note of disclaimer though, he said he was not sure whether what he heard was true and hence he was checking up with all the concerned divisions where he usually visited.

Suddenly, things electrified, I told my colleague, who was playing some brick games on the pc, the breaking news, shocked, he too, joined me and we went outside the room and saw colleagues searching for the boss on that floor. His room was empty, with the creepy fan revolving with disconcern as ever. One colleague even checked the toilets. Soon the crowd of around 10-15 staff members, after confirming the absence of the boss on the second floor assembled on the first floor, where the scene was of similar chaos. People were acting on their own instinct that day. Some peons rushed to the road to check up whether the boss had indeed collapsed. One of the peon further rushed to the bank to see whether the boss was in the bank.

Just everybody came back with no clues. Increasing the fear, the curiousity and the tension. In between just everybody devoutly tried calling the number of the boss, which was continously out of range.

Everybody assembled near the chamber of our Director, to give him the bad news. We all started guessing games, as to what exactly might have happened. However, even the hushed tone in unison was loud enough, for the Director inside to overhear.

All of a sudden, we heard a familiar voice “kya bhai, kya baat hai sab log ya ikattha kya kar rahe hai? “, which mean, what’s the matter friends, what are all of you doing together here. The voice was of the same boss whom we were told had collapsed on his way to the Office. We all were in a state of confusion. Now, who will tell him that he had collapsed on his way to office that lunch hour. Somehow, somebody assembled enough courage to tell the entire happening. The boss who heard the tale was equally shocked to hear. He went to the boss who broke the story. Nonchalantly the boss, welcomed him and said, ah, here you are, and I thought you fell down while coming from the bank. I was concerned about your health, now that your wife has entrusted me the responsibility of taking care of your health. And he erupted into wild laughter. The poor boss was red faced. He could not express his protest to this cruel joke. Nobody had any inkling how to react. The prank played was a notoreous one to say the least. The person on whom the prank was played was equally hurt. But, he did not register his protest, atleast verbally.

The good side of the story was that the entire office suddenly came together in that period of fabricated crisis. It had done so in the past, the camaraderie was displayed aplenty only during crisis, and all the times the response was unequivocal, of which I feel proud.

Good and perfectly true - Worth Reading

1. EVERY ONE  KNOWS  ABOUT  ALEXANDER  GRRAHAMBELL  WHO  INVENTED  PHONES, BUT  HE  NEVER  MADE  A  CALL  TO  HIS  FAMILY.  BECAUSE HIS WIFE  AND DAUGHTER  WERE  DEAF.  THAT'S  LIFE "  LIVE  FOR  OTHERS " . 2.  THE   WORST  IN  LIFE  IS  "ATTACHMENT " ITS   HURT  WHEN  YOU  LOSE  IT. THE   BEST  THING  IN  LIFE  IS " LONELINESS "  BECAUSE  IT  TEACHES  YOUEVERYTHING  AND  WHEN  YOU  LOSE  IT.  YOU  GET EVERYTHING. 3.  LIFE  IS  NOT  ABOUT  THE  PEOPLE  WHO  ACT  TRUE TO  YOUR  FACE ........ ITS  ABOUT  THE  PEOPLE  WHO  REMAIN  TRUE  BEHIND  YOUR  BACK . 4.  EGG  BROKEN  FROM  OUTSIDE  FORCE........A  LIFE ENDS  . IF  AN  EGG  BREAKS  FROM  WITHIN.......LIFE  BEGINS .GREAT   THINGS  ALWAYS  BEGAN  FROM   WITHIN . 5.  ITS  BETTER  TO  LOSE  YOUR  EGO  TO  THE  ONE  YOU   LOVE. THEN  TO  LOSE  THE   ONE  YOU  LOVE ....... BECAUSE  OF   EGO . 6.   A  RELATIONSHIP  DOESN'T  SHINE  BY  JUST  SHAKING  HANDS  ON  BEST  TIME. BUT  IT  BLOSSOMS  BY  HOLDING  FIRMLY    IN  CRITICAL  SITUATION  . 7. HEATED GOLD BECOMES ORNAMENTS. BETTED  COPPER  BECOMES  WIRES. DEPLETED  STONE  BECOMES  STATUE. SO  THE  MORE PAIN  YOU  GET  IN  YOUR  LIFE  YOU  BECOME MORE  VALUABLE. 8.  WHEN  YOU  TRUST  SOMEONE  TRUST  HIM  COMPLETELY  WITHOUT  ANY  DOUBT...............  AT  THE  END  YOU  WOULD  GET  ONE  OF   THE  TWO :  EITHER  A  LESSON  FOR  YOUR  LIFE  OR  A   VERY  GOOD  PERSON .     9. WHY  WE  HAVE  SO  MANY  TEMPLES  , IF  GOD  IS  EVERYWHERE ? A   WISE  MAN  SAID  : AIR   IS  EVERYWHERE , BUT   WE   STILL  NEED  A  FAN   TO  FEEL  IT .             Without GOD, our week would be: Sinday, Mournday, Tearsday, Wasteday, Thirstday, Fightday & Shatterday.     er seven days WITHOUT GOD makes