Not Just a Typical day
A rainy evening in Bangalore, India
The incident
It's 6 p.m. on another typical day in Bangalore, India.
It poured at 5 p.m., exactly when most people started back home from work.
The roads are still flooded, and you know it will take some time for the canals to move into their proper channels here. People too are trying to find alternative crossroads to bypass the traffic on the main roads
But thankfully, I could find someplace quiet where I could take a stroll, of course with some puddle-hopping.
I stopped at a roadside condiment store for a cup of hot tea while the birds returned to their nests, greeting me in a hundred different voices. What a pleasant feeling after a long time!
Right then, there came a vegetable vendor, pulling his flat rickshaw full of fresh beans, nicely covered with a waterproof sheet. He tried stopping it on a slope near a 4-way junction to grab some tea.
He looked for a long time for something to keep under one of the tyres to act as a brake, but he couldn't find anything. He kept one of his slippers and entered a different tea place just beside the one I was in.
There was a wave of traffic, and yet almost everyone found their way around the rickshaw. Not even a single guy honked the horn once, and this included seven-seater cars too. Even I felt happy that he could enjoy his tea after a long day, although the traffic had to adjust for 2–3 minutes.
And finally, this guy returned, with two packs of gutka (chewable tobacco) in his hands. He opened one of the packs, took the stuff into his palm, and started rubbing it into a fine paste. He kept the second pack in his shirt pocket and quickly placed the paste between his teeth and his lower lip. All my previous concern and appreciation had now turned to rage.
Like, how can he interrupt the traffic? Is this someplace to park your vehicle and all?
Just then a group of ladies, also returning home from their daily labour, passed by, and he called out loud to one of them to ask if she needed some fresh green peas.
"Even if we needed some, we wouldn't take them from those hands that were making such a delicious snack just now," she replied. The guy just took back his slipper from below the tire and started on his way.
The reply from the lady stole my heart. I don’t know why, but my anger turned into a smile again.
The retrospection
This incident made me think about and reassess a lot of things, or prejudices, if you will.
- Gender: I was made to believe, from a very young age, that women play a lesser role in society’s order-keeping than men do. The lady proved me wrong by giving a sensible reply while subtly establishing what was wrong with the man.
- Financial status: I was always under the impression, from my household and previous experiences, that financially sound people have better etiquette of things. This was clearly not the case here.
- Not everything that appears to be correct at first glance is.
- No matter how good a service or commodity you offer, if you don’t conduct yourself well, you will be doomed.
If you like the content and would like to collaborate with me or hire me for a gig, please contact me at thewierdstoryteller@gmail.com. Please be mindful of the spelling, it’s wierd, not weird.
