It
was a non-event. Yet the central character involved in the event did not spare
any effort in blowing it into a full-fledged fight. The youth in front had not brought
off his backpack while entering the metro compartment and it hit another youth behind him
who had rushed in to enter the compartment at the last moment before the door
closed. However, it was a cause enough for both of them to enter into a verbal
spate that turned to near fisticuffs. Thanks to sane fellow commuters who intervened, the situation was stopped from taking an ugly turn. This is not a stray
event. Every morning the newspaper has one or more news item of such nature- of
brawl and scuffle for minor reasons leading to serious injury and in some cases
even death of the person involved. One gets to see people in Delhi enter into a
fight even on petty issues such as parking, jumping of queue by fellow
commuter, on deciding who among the two is more elderly citizen to occupy the
seat meant for elders in metros, road rage due to reckless driving or delay of
a few minutes in providing the service by people manning organization rendering
services etc. Does this mean that people in Delhi are more conscious or is it a
sign of increasing intolerance among its citizens? Agreed, one must not take things
lying down for it is a sign of weakness; but the manner people in Delhi react to
anything and everything makes them appear as if they are in constant mode of daggers
drawn, ready to enter into a brawl at the drop of a hat. I
regard this not as a sign of consciousness but of intolerance.
A conscious commuter is also a compassionate commuter. At times it appears
as if people have lost their sense of judgment and yet love to be judgmental. “There
is a tendency for people to get rigid and caught up in their beliefs of what is
right and wrong and they lose sight of humanity. Being human has to come first before
right or wrong”- Matisyahu. People fail to differentiate a genuine
mistake from a deliberate mischief. Coming from a small town I find that community
feeling is stronger in such small towns and this often helps in checking intolerance.
On the other hand in a metropolitan like Delhi, life is much more challenging,
the fight for the survival of fittest is bitter and tendency to ape the
affluent class or a class higher than the one to which one belongs to is greater-
factors which breeds intolerance, frustration and results in violence. Such a life style
makes one self centric and selfish and it also leads to alienation in society.
People are least bothered of the miseries and woes of fellow citizen- they behave
in a mechanized manner just like a robot leading a robotic life from morning to
dusk. Hence where there occurs an interruption they collide into one another
like any machine. We need to become human being once again. “One
should adopt the same attitude towards all beings, his mind should be even
towards all beings, he should not handle others with an uneven mind, but with a
mind which is friendly, well disposed, free from aversion, avoiding harm and
hurt, he should handle others as if they were his mother, father, son or
daughter.”- Gautama-the Buddha.
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