Tuesday, November 25, 2008

"kolkata, whatever happened to your heart?"

kolkata is famous for its kindness,hospitality and caring for the poor. hence it is known as a city with a heart. and 'the city of joy'. that image got a big dent last week. when a senior citizen was allowed to die on the streets. shivering in the cold,the poor person had no one coming forward to rescue him. lying for a few days on the crossing of rafi ahmed kidwai road and ripon street near a garbage vat,he was just allowed to die.and a police patrol van was parked only a few metres away.

till a young ambn-amro bank official noticed the old man's plight and lifted him out and carried him to a nearby park.he draped him with a blanket and washed his hands and feet with warm water and tried to revive him. the boy's father, a unani practitioner,suggested he rub hot oil on his chest. before the youth could do that and also find out the identitiy of the old man,he breathed his last. known for its empathy with the poor and underdogs,the sudden callousness of kolkattans is unbelievable. the young bank officer's efforts were touching.

2 comments:

A Virtual Vegetarian said...

...a bit of tarnish developing...maybe not afterall!

It breaks my heart to hear stories like this! Are we so involved in our lives that we cannot afford to be "human"?

On a side note..nice to see you back GS....was wondering where you were? Hope everything is better in Mumbai...I know you live close to Taj and the Obs...take care

gs said...

hello AVV
hope that incident was an exception to the rule.the fast pace of life in our cities makes us a bit inhuman. we need to know where we are going wrong and correct our actions.
i have been travelling quite often during the last four weeks with lot of plant issues cropping up. hence the hiatus, as i was not in a proper frame of mind.
mumbai is bouncing back,the resilient city that it is.i was actually in raipur on 27th morning when my daughter rang me up to find out where i was and gave me the terrible news.we are all ok,thank God.many thanks for your kind enquiries.