What have I become, my sweetest friend?*

Reading through this at Faraz's blog, made me recall something that I had wanted to blog about a while back.

When I was in Melbourne in June-July, Arpeeta and I had to go visit Minku, who was staying at an apartment. Now while I depended on Arpeeta for directions a lot of the time, I (and her) were a bit nervous this time around because this route was a previously untravelled one.

We got onto the tram, got off at what we thought was the right stop and proceeded to walk towards what we thought was Minku's apartment.
We must've walked for about 30 minutes until we started to get that sickening feeling- you know the one that starts to creep upon you when you realise the path you've been walking on is like an escalator - in reverse. We weren't getting anywhere. The apartment shouldn't have been more than 5 minutes from the tram stop.

We spotted a tiny elderly lady walking towards us. She was carrying 4 bags of heavy groceries in each hand and looked quite tired as she walked quickly in the cold. Arpeeta walked upto her and said "Excuse me..could you tell me where Number 123 XYZ Apartments are?"
She looked around, thought for a bit and said "I'm not too sure but I think you're probably going in the right direction..the numbers seem to be heading towards your apartment!"
"Thank you so much!"
"Welcome, dear!"

We went our seperate ways, our footsteps quickening with excitement that comes with the surety.
Or so we thought.
We must've walked for another 20 minutes..and no sign of our apartment.
"I think we should walk back..."
Tired sighs all around.

We made the 20 minute walk back and to our surprise we saw the old Lady in the distace - walking towards us, hands still full of grocery bags! She hurried up to us and said -
"I realised while I was walking that I think I gave you the wrong direction!"
I gasped "You walked back to tell us!?"
"Yes, dear I know how scary it can be in a new country and being lost..I couldn't let you girls carry on walking like that!"
"That's so incredibly nice of you! Thank you so much!"
Arpeeta and I must've thanked her a million times over. She told us she still didn't know the right way but she couldn't let us continue down the wrong road.

I was stunned. Completely blown away. To actually be in the presence of someone who would take the effort to brave fatigue, distance AND cold just to come back to tell two complete strangers that she sent them the wrong way...it was..a privilege.
I'll be honest- I would have never done it. At least I don't think I would have. I wouldnt have walked those 20 minutes back.

I compared this small, kind act with the act committed by a man just a few days before - He was completely drunk and walked up to me and Arpeeta and told 'us fucking Indians' to 'go back home'.
Both were Australian, both were worlds apart in the way they thought and both would be remembered by two Indian girls continents away for entirely different reasons.

What about the death camps at Auschwitz? I watched Oprah and her guest Elie Wiesel who wrote the book 'Night' and it bought tears to my eyes. How could someone slaughter their fellow men like that? The victims were told they were going for showers...and by the time they found out the shower chambers were actually gas chambers - it was too late. Their homes, their families, their names and finally their souls were taken- systematically and ruthlessly.

It's amazing how people show themselves to be and what they truly show themselves to be once that thin veneer of civility and inhibition is pulled away and power is placed in their hands.

But how about something closer to home? What about someone you've known for 7 years? I had a supposed good friend tell her superiors at the job we worked at to "..watch out for that girl because she's trouble."
Now I can see the warped thinking behind a white guy wanting minorities out of his land - it's obvious. How warped is the logic behind a friend completely screwing you over, for no rhyme or reason? Don't ask. In fact, I wouldn't want to know. It makes me sick.

Want to know how tiny a kind gesture has to be to be remembered? Something as small as an old lady tapping me on the shoulder and asking if she can brush away the red ant that merrily making its way up my back. Something as small as giving up your seat for an old lady/old man/pregnant woman on the bus.
That small.



The point is - just when you're dead sure you've figured out the human race to be the scum that they're known for being, you get someone like the kind, old lady who does something to reaffirm your faith in people.
The world we're in is filled with people who just aren't ready to give someone a break. Do we need to add to it? We're all out for our pound of flesh and payback. We're all out to make a point - that we want what we want, that we DESERVE what we want, that it's our birthright. We try to convince ourselves that we're more in need of that bus seat than the pregnant lady in front of us.
Yes, I've seen grown men refusing to get their asses off a seat, even when a visibly pregnant woman or a fragile old man is standing right next to them. I hope you feel even more a man when you see me getting up for them.

It's bullshit. What have you done to deserve it? Unless you're in the whole 'creating-and-nuturing-a-life' business, you don't.
I don't know about you guys, but I believe in Karma.

Be someone's proverbial 'old lady' and see what you reap later on.
Trust me.

Oh and the next time you think bout back stabbing someone, think of the mouthful Karma will grab when it comes back to bite you in the ass.

Have a good and fruitful day everyone. Pass it on.


*Title from Johnny Cash's 'Hurt'