I sometimes wonder what makes India so unique and different from the rest of the world. Well, the most obvious answer that anyone would come up with is probably “We, the people”. What a stupid question, isn’t it? Let me put you into a situation.
You are walking back from office and a man, woman and boy(probably their son) stop you and ask, “Do you know hindi, marathi, bihari, etc”. If you happen to know any of the languages they understand and say “Yes”, please read along. They say that they are from Maharastra and had come to visit Tirupathi. But while returning, they lost all their money, and with whatever they had, they have managed to reach Bangalore. They would then ask you to help them by giving them some money, for the tickets and food. They also promise you to return your money once they reach their home.
The first question that would come to your mind will be,”Are they telling the truth”. If you believe them somehow, how much are you willing to help them?
This happened to me today when I was returning from office. I first thought that I would give them Rs. 50 for their food atleast. And I gave them. I didn’t have more than that then. After taking the Rs.50 , they asked me to get some from the ATM and help them, again promising by the name of GOD, that they will return it as soon as possible. The ATM was not very far, but I said, I dont even have anything in my ATM, which was an obvious lie. They would have also guessed that I was lying. During that 10-15 minutes conversation, my mind was completely unstable. I was not able to figure out what to do.
After that, when I left them, and was walking, I felt guilty. Have we become so in-humane that we refuse to help Humans? Such a shame. Today I have made a decision. Whenever I face a similar situation, I won’t even think twice. I will help them as much as I can.
I also have another question in my mind. If you ever are in such a situation, and you are in say California, what would you do? Its very unlikely with all those credit cards and debit cards that you would always be carrying with you and so many of your friends who would be onsite in California. But if suppose you don’t have any option other than asking the people on the road for help, what would you expect?