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Monday, April 11, 2011

Confessions of a criminal

Visualize the situation. The bus is supposed to turn right at a junction, and in 99% of days, it gets caught in a red light. It suits me best if I can get off here. The bus stop prior to this junction is  a bit too behind, and the next after the turn means a bit of extra walking to my destination.

Today, the light was red when our bus reached the said spot. I requested the driver to let me off, but he refused. I nodded politely, didnt say any additional word and got off at the next defined bus stop. And started walking.

A fellow passenger, who too, had got down here, followed me. He was cursing the driver, loud enough for me to hear.

"What is the problem?", I asked.
- "Why did he not open the doors at the light?"
"Why should he? Thats no bus stop.", I explained.
-"Now you are taking sides with him? You only asked him to let you off..."

Well, I admitted to him that I was doing the wrong thing. That too, knowingly.

As he walked away, I was left wondering how irresponsible as citizens were we. Ok at least I am. I would throw an ice-cream stick on a roadside if I cannot see a dustbin within my power of vision. I would plead bus drivers to drop me between bus stops just because it is possible. I cannot ask a metro driver to drop me midway on a track, can I? I do many such wrongs; will list them slowly.

6 comments:

R. Ramesh said...

u r my dear friend..so i reject this headline...

the snake said...

sad but true...we truly are.
but there is hope...the more people who realise this, the more will they act responsibly...the key is the realisation, everything else will follow.

My Unfinished Life said...

well, atleast ur a conscientious criminal...u make an effort to the right thing and admit to ur wrongdoings!!!.....
that cant be said for a lot of people....

Pranavam Ravikumar said...

We follow what comfort us. Lovely write!

Haddock said...

Very true.
That ice cream stick reminded me of a japanese guy who came as a faculty to train us at my work place, and he had a tooth pick which he wanted to throw in a dust bin. He could not locate one. I was observing him and found that he was holding on to it till the class got over and then walked out, located a dust bin and threw it there.

Swapna Raghu Sanand said...

Good post. I also liked the experience that Haddock shared about the Japanese guy. We talk big about keeping our homes clean but when we go out, we behave as if littering is our birth right. We don't even stop our kids from it. I try to be very strict with my son about littering.