Padhe likhe anpadh

Don’t you just hate it when you view people on the street litter, spit and abuse public places? Ditto. Guess what? It’s worse when you see them do the same from the confines of their four walls. The thing is we Indians like to keep our home clean and streets untidy. There are so many instances around us where people casually throw rubbish out of their window and don’t even care to check whether it hit somebody walking on the road outside. Indians would do anything to keep their new-found traditions alive.

Case study: Last night, i was returning home tired from Nashik and it was quite late. I was about four buildings away from ours when a banana peel landed right in front of me — about three feet away. The ironical part was somebody from that very building could have unassumingly slipped on the slippery slip in the morning. Anyway, i looked up as anybody who believes in God would do. From the open window and the functioning tubelight, it was patent that the banana skin flew from that house on the second floor. I used to play cricket once so it wasn’t too high for me. I could have easily thrown the peels back into the window — if not on the first attempt, then at least on the fifth. However, i changed my mind at the last moment. Instead, i opened the gate and walked up the stairs despite feeling terribly weary. On ringing the bell of the ‘guilty’ house, a tall man in lungi opened the door. Before he could ask anything i said “This must be yours. You left it downstairs” in Hindi, before handing him the abandoned banana skin. I was prepared for denial but he didn’t say anything. He simply took my offer, looked at his window and pulled a face. I wanted to take out my unrelated frustration by lecturing him: “Padhe likhe log aisa karenge toh anpadhon se kya ummeed karna?” But there was no need for it.