Dangerous Drive

After completing my work, I was returning by bus. I took the first bus that I came across, and it was a private one. All that I was concerned was to reach the city as soon as possible. The bus would have gone for some 15 mintues, when I heard a lot of people who sat next to the windows make a noise. The driver of the bus continued to drive, until he was stopped by two bikists who stopped him by force. I was not keen on knowing what had happened, but after a little while, when most of the passengers had got down, I too got down to see what had happened.

What I saw at the side of the road, was not a pleasant sight. A rickshaw van with four cement pipes had been overturned, and one of the pipes had been broken. The driver of the rickshaw who had stood at a distance, was making a lot of noise against the driver of the bus, who deliberately failed to notice the van parked at the side. The van driver was merely carrying the pipes to some other place, and if he got the pipes broken, it would be his responsibility, and it would be beyond his capacity to restore the pipe. That was the problem.

The rickshaw driver pleaded with the bus driver that he restored the amount to purchase a new cement pipe, and claimed it would cost rupees two thousand and five hundred only, which for me was a far-fetched figure. So, the rickshaw driver had gone to bring the owner of he pipes, so that he could negotiate the price of the pipe. But one thing was sure, the bus driver and his helpers put all the blame on the rickshaw driver, saying that it was his mistake to park the rickshaw at the side of a highway. Luckily the rickshaw driver had a few genuine good people of the locality, who were speaking for him.

I was wondering what would have happened if the local bikers were not there to stop the bus forcefully; the poor rickshaw driver would have been forced to cough out the amount which the owner of the pipe would have demanded. Sometimes providence works in such a way that the voiceless and the last, least and lost have someone to fight for them; I tend to believe that God sends people with good hearts to take up the cases of the poor and the helpless. But unfortunately the educated and the learned would be the last ones to take up these cases and fight for them.

Even as I stood as a mute spectator, looking at blatant injustice taking shape before my very eyes, I did not have the guts to speak for the helpless victim of injustice, the rickshaw driver. How easily have I missed an opportunity, where I could have very easily exhibited my humanity! I had deliberately kept myself at arms length, so that my hadns would not be dirtied; but I would like to think of the hundreds of people who dirty their hands everyday, so that I may have a comfortable life. Next time when such an opportunity knocks at my door, I hope to at least listen the the voice and then learn to respond to it positively!