Imagine driving down a Mumbai highway late night at a 'high' speed (relative to the am traffic hours). It's 2am and I'm so tired, been up since 5:30 am. If I drive at the same rate I should be home and stretched out in bed by 2:40...
A man, a homeless bum wobbles down the road. Maybe inebriated, maybe mental. Noone to call his own, noone that cares if his blood pressure is a long ways over 120. He falls down strangely in the middle of the road and my brakes screech urgently. His head is bleeding, maybe hit his skull on the divider. There's noone around.
2:40 in bed vs...a longer night. Maybe cops, maybe the cold antiseptic tube-lights and green curtains of a hospital. Maybe under my plush quilt with the fan blowing my hair gently, the air conditioner set to the perfect temperature. There's noone around--but me and him.
What do I do? I'll never know, until it happens.
I do know this: If this man had the paunch of prosperity, a starched shirt, a pouch with a convenient wrist strap--he would be in the ER in under 30 mins, witnesses or no witnesses.
I know right from wrong. I also know convenience from inconvenience. And I know degrees of justification. Right and wrong is a variable measure depending on the strength of x and y. Black is one shade of gray and white is another shade of gray.
It creeps me out to think that I would actually consider walking away from a human in desperate need, rationaling 'maybe its for the best for society'. I judged that he doesn't contribute, doesn't work, has no family/friends and thus...
Please understand that I don't know yet, what I would do. Maybe I am a nice person and would help him. But I'll never know until.
Very very unfortunately, and maybe rightly so or wrongly so: every life has a price tag, subject to change without prior notice. We decide.
If I kill a cockroach I don't get nightmares about it, and wake up guilty. Certain countries practice public stoning as capital punishment. Staunch believers of Jainism won't even consider sauteing onions and garlic for flavoring their food. A trainful of dead Hindus delivered to India from Pakistan, and colonies of mortified Muslims hiding from rioting avengers in tilaks.
This is why dead homeless man won't make the news, not even a fifth page tiny paragraph; on the other hand, afternoon dailys will rush to the 1st floor, 2 bedroom flat of the widow seeking justice and life insurance.
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14 comments:
What a strong post to make a comeback from the hiatus!
I have been on both the sides of gray on more than one occasion. The black still freaks me out because it was inhuman by any standards. And the white, while surprised myself enough with the safedi ki jankaar, was not enough to forget the black..Gray is my true color..
This is not just about you or me..as you said, what we might choose to do the common response and not a rational one. I am not sure if rationality can really be expected of a person up for almost 24 hours..Is it inconvenience always? Sometimes it is genuine inability to think and act..Possible? Not in an ideal situation..But it is a gray world!
We just hope we do the right as we see it then..We also hope that what appears right then is right later too..
Very nice one DP..You made me "think"! :-)
Thanks so much, I get very flattered by your comments!
I don't know about the freeze-brain thing, never happened to me so I can't understand it. Kinda like the light at the end of the tunnel myth/fact.
You're right, can't expect people to be rational all the time...But, at all times there IS a distinction of right from wrong and an x justification factor (convenience/past experience/PMS!/etc)that makes us choose one over the other.
Gray world indeed.
Brilliant!!
It's been a while since I visited your blog but I am glad I did. Funnily enough I have been trying to find answers to certain stuff but it eventually boils down to what you rightly put forth. I like to believe at the very least I know what looks black or white to me (relative I know but something absolute from my point of view).
...which makes me accountable to myself.
Hi Binoy,
It IS strange, if you're thinking the exact same things I write--kinda like a freaky tv show ;)
You know two blacks and whites. One is drawn by convention: stealing is bad, lying is bad.
One is concocted by you: stealing is only bad if.., lying is only bad if..
Yeah, one universally accepted and the other one relative, albeit absolute w.r.t me... although I cant think of any situation when "stealing is only bad if" applies....still that's relative.
Freak TV show eh! :)
random imagination. ;-)
steeling is bad only if you are not Robinhood..
Noooooo! I don't like robin hood. I thought that was a terrible message to send out.
On the other hand, I like Scrooge from 'A Christmas Carol', he was wayyy cool :)
Stealing is good if...I stole your contact list to throw you a surprise party.
Or if your maa is very bimaar and you have no money for medicines because on your way home you fell down and broke the bottle and it was raining and lightening. So then I guess it's okay to steal grain from the cruel thakur's house.
@Mental: I still don't buy that.
@Dhara: Bimaar maa and cruel thakur sounds pretty, I had a good laugh...but still naah. I get the point though.
Ok..is there an Ayn Rand influence on not liking Robinhood? :D
well, i really pondered on the "stealing is good if" part...how about this? stealing is good if you are stealing someone's heart.. :P
I didn't like robin hood since school days when I first heard about him and the concept, maybe that's why I was attracted to Ayn Rands philosophy a lot. But, there's extremes to everything, and I wouldn't endorse her ideals either.
Lol you're as bollywood as I am, absolutely right, dil churana koi gunaah to nahi...
;)
you bet I am...
in true Bollywood style.."agar kissi ka dil churana gunaah hai, to haan! maine yeh gunah kiya hai..." ma kasam, filmy hai!
drparikh... very well written... Thats where society comes in...
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