Monday, May 21, 2007

Remorse, Regret!

It was around 1 pm and Bombay was literally burning. It was 40 degrees centrigrade and very high humidity levels. I was traveling in an auto to a friends place for lunch. I was reading the Mint, a paper I have beginning to like a lot.
We stopped at the signal and I could see that it was going to be a long wait. I was immersed in an article, almost forcefully, to take my mind off the discomfort of feeling a sticky shirt against my back. An old man walked in rags walked upto me. I could see his movement from the corner of my eye. He walked up to the auto and put out a begging bowl. He did not say a word, but just looked at me. I took my eyes off the newspaper and looked at the bowl. I looked up at him and then almost non chalantly looked back into the news paper. He lingered on for that split second and then walked off. As he walked away I noticed him walking barefoot on burning concrete.
It is then I realised the mean-ness of my action. I had so coldly ignored a fellow human being. May be he did not merit my charity (for what ever reason) but he definitely does not merit being treated like a non entity.
If only I could turn back time.