This incident somehow changed my opinion on so called “poor” people. I used to pity them, seriously. I did my best for them whenever I got a chance. And it has sort of changed now. Its not that I hate them, I am just scared of how they will take it.
A regular bus traveller, following the routine,I took a 201 and sat in the window seat. I had a long distance to go, so I put on the headset, dosed off while listening to my fav song. Few min had passed, and I got up, as I felt someone sit beside me. Reflexively, I moved a little inside. A min later, I felt a strange smell, thought it was because of some drainage nearby. closed the window and leaned against it. The smell was getting stronger every minute, when I realised that the “smell” was the lady sitting next to me. Black, short, weird lambada bangles. Villager, was my first thought. I tried not to be uncomfortable, and concentrated on the song. That did not help.
I put my head out of the bus like a dog with its head out of the car window. That was not helping. To make matters worse, the lady had a companion. Thin as they were, the company also sat with us.
I sneezed 2-3 times. Drank water. Tried my level best not to blurt out what was in my mind. The bus became crowded, and we were getting closer, with no space for air between us.
The smell was so bad, I tried closing my nose and breathing with my mouth. After sometime, my situation became so horrible, I started coughing. But still remained in control. Tried to deviate my mind to the song. And then something happened.
The lady started yelling at me in kannada. Then she turned to her companion, and said something. Both of them looked at me and gave a (in my language) yucky expression. Have no idea what that meant. For once, I was happy I hadn’t learnt kannada. Few people beside me were looking at me, This lady got up, I thought her stop had come. But no, she got up, walked few steps front, and stood there. Both of them. The conductor signalled someone else to sit beside me, came to me and said it was ok, and left.
I came to know later, that the lady thought , I was too High class to sit beside them. Well, I put this in decent english, but apparantly wasnt that decent in kannada. She got up because she thought i dint like sitting beside them and I was turning off from them cos i dint want to touch her. And she yelled , that if I plan to treat people as untouchables, I shoudlnt be coming by bus.
That was the limit. I was angry. But there was very little I could do there. Neither did I know the language, nor was I interested in proving myself innocent. I did make an effort there, and all I got was strange looks from everyone in the bus. With no fault of mine, I ended up feeling so guilty. I had no idea for what. That poor lady would have cursed me, she was there in the bus till I got down, and yelled something in kannada even while I was getting down. 😦
Overall, a bad experience. Next time someone encounters such situation, I suggest instead of trying to adjust in that space, get up,and allow them to sit comfortably. You earn respect too!
And yes, be a little selfish and tell out what u feel. If they are poor, help them . Don’t pity them. They are not innocent, and have as much pride (may be more) as anyone else.
World..through my eyes! 