Living with eyes wide shut!
This 'n' that
By Renee Ranchan

WHAT has happened to us? Is it just plain apathy, disinterest or is it about being so wrapped up in our own world that there is no time to stand and stare. Smell the roses. Or in today’s parlance, smell the coffee. What is it that is happening? Let us take a few recent happenings in the Capital. Why, Delhi? Well, simply because it is a mini-India and reflects what is happening in the rest of India. So what do you say to a high-speed trip to some of the main points?

Snapshot 1: A man’s wife dies. The man does not have the money to take care of a basic funeral. So what does he do ? He quietly — it is supposed, at the dead of night — carries his wife’s corpse to a deserted spot. Not too far away from his jhuggi, he ‘puts her to rest’. No, he does not dig a grave but simply lays her down on the ground, behind a pillar hidden from public glare. After a tearful farewell, he leaves, hoping the wife would understand. Days later the residents of the area, unable to bear the stench any longer, do their bit of investigation. The body, half-eaten and rotting, is discovered. The police now enters the picture . It is not murder, the police says. However, something has to be done with the corpse. In the end, the police takes the body for cremation. This ‘incident’ happened in September.

Snapshot 2: Around the same time we have a man trying to cajole four persons to serve as pall-bearers at a relative’s funeral. How could he cremate the person, perform the funeral rites, without anybody’s help? Would these four strangers take a little time off for the poor departed soul? And I am sure you would not believe it (I myself initially did not) that not a single person stepped forward to ‘help’ the bereaved man . The report did not say whether the man had to ultimately hire help but I strongly suspect that must have been the case.

Snapshot 3: On a very busy street a man lays huddled in a corner oblivious of the buses, cars, scooters, tempos that are zooming by. Neither has the man fainted nor is he unwell. He is dead. Pedestrians cross the road but no one bothers to halt, stop and see what the matter is with this pathetic figure lying there. They are too busy trying to negotiate their way when the red light pulls the traffic to a halt. This man lay on that road for a substantial part of the day till someone, probably someone who stumbled over him while trying to cross the road and discovered that he was dead. The following morning a newspaper or two carried a picture of the ‘sight’. What else would you call it?

The ‘sight’ is taken in with your morning cuppa. You sigh and then, well, all is forgotten. This, too, happened in September. Why, I am reiterating September is to underline how in the stretch of a month we can have such incidents that show nothing but our callousness, lack of humanity. And there must be more such incidents — these are the ones that we learn of via newspapers.

And yes, before switching gears there is one more such case which comes to mind. Thankfully however, it is not about death, funeral arrangements.

A few weeks ago, in an apartment complex (and we are assured, repeatedly so, that community living is safe!) a theft was taking place. The lady of the house and her small children were at home. And this was a daylight robbery. The lady shouted for help, cried, pleaded for someone, anyone to come to her assistance. The neighbours heard her wails, but did not want to get into the mess. Turned a deaf ear. The reason, I suppose must have been the fear that the thief belonged to a gang of sorts and going to her aid might just jeopardise their own safety. Or running to the neighbour’s rescue would draw them into a legal case, as a witness. Who wanted to play witness anyway? (‘Love thy neighbour’, I think it should be taken off the list of edicts we are taught in school.) The police, finally arrives at the scene of crime. Do not ask me who informed it since the papers did not mention the name of the informant. Though going by guesses, the poor lady must have got to the phone once the robber departed. And the cops made the mandatory enquiries. How was it that no one heard the poor lady’s cries? The walls of the flats were not all that thick and the apartments were all cloistered together, surely someone must know of the break in. Everyone had their excuses ready — the TV was on at full blast, the cooler’s noisy drone muffled all sound, you could not hear your own voice when the kids were squabbling, squealing all over the place, so how in heavens would you hear yelps of "help" from the adjoining set?

Now for snapshot number 5. At a high society gathering and we all know that the well-heeled conglomerate for their quota of caviar and champagne only at some fashionable, to-be-seen farmhouse, restaurant. Remember Jessica Lal, the lady who was manning the bar at a party in a Delhi restaurant, that goes by the name, Tamarind Court? Jessica was shot in the head at this party. Shot at point blank range. And, what pray did the lady do to have her brains blown out? Well, she had refused to serve that ‘one for the road drink’ to an already inebriated guest. Besides, the bar had been closed for the day. (It is another matter that it later came to light that the restaurant did not even possess a licence to run a bar!) And so that was reason enough for this sloshed-to-the-gills guest to whisk out his revolver and kill the lady. (Yes, I am told the day is not far when carrying guns will be as ‘essential’ as mobile phones!) How dare a mere woman say ‘No’ to him, turn down his request for a little tipple? However, this story, I am sure, we all know. The point that is disconcerting, to say the least, is that the guests present there said they saw nothing, heard nothing. (And there were a good number of guests, at that!) Can you fathom that? No eyewitnesses?

At what note should this end? That something had better be done. And that we reconnect with the human within us, that we find a pinch of humanitarianism and a grain of time to exercise it? Until then, I guess it will be acres of newsprint every week with more such stories.