“Respected Headmaster, Teacher’s, Parents and my dear friends….. “. Some of us know these lines by heart. They used to be start of our public speaking and elocution competitions in schools. Probably we did not understand the meaning of these words then, but they made good lot of impact on us. Rather it was the single word ….“Respected”. Somewhere, unknowingly it cultured us to respect everybody. Respect elders, respect educated, respect intellect, respect life.
The old lady used to be referred to Aai or Maa ji (Mother) and the elderly man used to be Baba, Kaka or Dada (uncle). And we of course had the respect for them when we used to call them by such names. This was true everywhere in my small village and in cities too. And those who didn’t respect elders were categorized as spoilt brats. Giving respect to people was always considered as good behaviour and any such behaviour was appreciated by all.
But my encounter with this city, Mumbai Nagari (also known as Maya Nagari), the city where people flock to achieve their dreams … was unpleasant. On first day itself, rickshawwala called me “Uncle”. Oh Lord!! Am I an uncle at the age of 26? And how can a 50 year old rickshaw guy call me Uncle? It was not long before I understood that I was one amongst the uncles of my age and even younger to me. And the sad part is that there isn’t any feeling of respect behind those words. Possibly the respect was paid to some bucks in my pocket. Now over a period of time, I have got used to such words. In fact, I do not feel offended as I felt the first day.
Today’s incident was different, when my rickshawala again aged 50-55, shouted at the old lady crossing the road ….. Aye mhatarye ho bajula … #&^%$#... (You old lady …get out of the away…bad words). While shouting that he also manoeuvred his rickshaw in such a way that it looked liked we will hit her. The old lady was almost on the other side of the road when this guy was shouting at her and there was ample space for even a monster truck to pass by. But the same ricksha wala applied sudden brakes when some car crossed at the junction without obeying the signal. There wasn’t any disrespect and not even a “good” bad word and there was no manoeuvring. As if he was anticipating the same. Definitely, hitting the car would have been stupid thing to do. For he knew his life is at risk. Again He can’t take the risk of hitting the car, for his rickshaw would be no more. But somewhere a brushing thought came to my mind … is our respect for a human being is limited to self? How bluntly someone can forget the importance of other’s life but at the same time knows to save him. Or was it the money that he would have spent repairing his rickshaw after hitting car? …… !!!
Suddenly, the word uncle started pinching me. The thought of not respecting the old lady but respecting own life made me uneasy. And then, numerous similar instances which I have seen and heard in this city started to revolve as a movie sequence in front of my eye. The disrespected characters were the old lady, the teacher, the headmaster, Parents and the role played by rickshawala was played by today’s handsome, good looking, educated young generation.
It has started giving me subtle pain as I thought I was part of the rickshawala’s crime. I also fall in this educated category of young generation. I could have asked him, “Can’t you stop for sometime till she crosses the road…” But I kept mum as a nice silent boy in movie theatre. I have refrained from talking during many such instances .I am sure many of us would have already.
Of course there are exceptions to this and will always be. But the set of Brats are more in number in this period of global community. Respecting the life, elders, intellect is now probably seen as old fashioned. I really hate it to the core, when people don’t even obey the traffic signal… but every time I managed to be a nice boy in the Movie Theatre. Most of us know that it’s unethical, unlawful and all wrong, but we have managed to maintain silence as we have conveniently adjusted to the fact that we can’t make any difference.
Today, somewhere my conscience has started pricking me!!... Is life not precious? Aren’t we happy that we are living? Aren’t we happy that others are leaving? Are we so materialistic that we cant respect life but started respecting money alone? Shouldn’t we believe that every act should be done in harmony with others? Is our time more important than the life of others? If we don’t run fast will we miss everything in our life? Will there be a day when I will say “Respected Headmaster, Teacher’s, Parents and my Dear friends ….” With same pride and also mean it at the same time? ...Can I make difference?
Can somebody help me (ethical me) to answer these questions!!! … If you have time!!
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