Slumdog not millionaire

When you work for a MNC bank which was one of those guilty banks not prudent enough to know which kind of customers can pay back the money and which cannot. When you work for a MNC bank where you are working from 2pm to 11pm . When you work for a MNC which provides for you basic level of subsistence, you don’t ask question,lament ,but you work.

In the heat of the sun,I was waiting for my cab. It’s a routine . It’s more of a part of my life. Waiting !!! The usual surroundings being same . As goes the famous lines from “Donnie Darko” …”All around me are familiar faces,wornout places ,going nowhere…” . So was the face of that little neglected child. A toddler wearing a tainted frock, face smeared with mud,dirt and tears. An existence of ignorance,innocence and exuberance. And she (going by the frock she was wearing) sat there,enjoying in the scorching heat,playing with plastic bags and twigs, living in her own little devoid of any worries.At that instant came a white skinned lady, she looked at the “little angel” sitting there. She bent down caressed the toddler’s cheeks, offered her some goodies and after this show of benevolence the lady went on her usual business.I was amazed at this show of affection. I wondered how many of us (read Indians) would do so, everyone is so damn busy living the burdening life that it’s humanly impossible to even pass a smile on seeing a familiar face, let alone a stranger.Then came my cab and i went ahead to play out my day.

A week after at the same location,same time , i was living out my same routine. There was no toddler that day. Moments later the same white skinned lady came and went about her usual business.Just after that a girl carrying the same toddler came there and tried catching the attention of the lady , but she was gone. Judgmental as I usually am , I figured what was going on.It could be that the goodies offered to the toddler by the lady was cherished and savored by someone else. This girl , who carried the toddler could very well be the toddler’s sister and to get another round of goodies , this girl was using the toddler to catch the lady’s attention. Sounds far fetched ,but quite likely.

It’s the inherent human nature to exploit the kindness and love bestowed upon us. What this poor girl was doing is a reflection of the thinking of society in general.

It’s how the human psychology works. We use our helplessness to hoodwink others who piety us. We take undue advantage of kindness and sympathy and justify each wrong done to us as a matter of our destiny.

Now many of you might feel way differently and might even call into question my humanity or blame my emotional depravity and one is within his or her right to do so.Before you take your daggers out hear me out . What should I make out of Danny boyle , the coveted director who came to the rescue of the slum kids,who along with their family were thrown out of their illegal houses , while their parents are busy roping in the new found stardom of their kids. I don’t want to blame the parents. It’s human tendency or the survival instincts or rather protective instincts of the parents to dream a better future for their family .

And who doesn’t want that ? What would you do?