Education creates egos.
Yes, I firmly believe that. Of what worth is an education that deters you from doing something mainly because you fear how you will be viewed if you do it? havent you encountered such situations ever?
There are any number of NGOs engaged in spreading 'knowledge' and we all applaud it as the worthiest motive. But of what good is sine, cosine if it robs you of your compassion and gives you a feeling of superiority over others?
When I see a blind man at railway stations, I offer a hand. But sometimes, I feel awkward: will people laugh because I look educated? You rarely find an educated girl/boy offering support to these people. They either trudge on their own or, 9/10, they are bailed out by a poor man. Educated people can't be bothered.
Two days ago, we heard heart-rending wails from the thicket outside my home after midnight. Husband and I took our umbrella and tried to source the sound but couldnt. The sound stopped when we neared it and we could see no dog, pup or any other animal.
So we came back. Around 7 am, we woke up to the same yelping sound. Out we went, and this time, because of better light and some morning walkers, we saw a she-dog (she was too sweet to be called a bitch) stuck in the mouth of a narrow nullah underneath the road. The nullah flowed into the drain perpendicular to it and was presently gurgling out water in torrents fed by the heavy rains.
None of us had the guts to step into the drain --we could see rats scampering in the muck -- and extract her from the dirty nullah. We watched helplessly as she did too, until a good man outside the gate saw us gathered mournfully and walked in. As if to the manner born, he handed over his watch and umbrella to us, rolled up his trousers, and plunged right in. Catching the dog by her mouth with one hand, he squeezed her out of the nullah and on to the road. She had broken her hind legs and limped but as relieved her nightmare was over.
The man worked as a watchman in a building nearby, sported a tilak and was cool about his soiled clothes and feet even as we educated types were relieved that someone else had done the job for us while we worried about health, hygiene and perception. So much for higher learning.
4 comments:
i visited your blog after a long time, and was delighted to find so many posts.
just finished reading this last one.
"Enlightening" is the only word i can think of.
please do keep writing
as a mutual friend would say: city light!
Seema, I couldn't agree more. Education does seem to sometimes take the humanity out of most of us, when its effect should really be the other way round. And I for one am proud of you for offering a hand to the blind man: you cannot let what others think stand in the way of your innate decency.
That story about the dog is heartrending: I hope someone had thought of taking her to a vet for the broken legs. I know there are strays all over Bombay, but it might have saved her from an inevitable and drawn-out death.
thanks, all, for writing in.
Vaishali, we were taking the dog to a vet when it bounced on its feet and away. we couldnt locate her at all. :-)
eventually, it was doing quite fine by evening, i was told by people who claimed to have spotted her.
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