Wednesday, December 29, 2004

The Silver Line In Dark Cloud

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant. At the same time, in some, it brings out the hidden fiend, i.e. Mr. Hyde out of Dr Jeckylls.

Dark cloud first. In Kerela, God's Own Country, thieves have suddenly surfaced up. They have been looting deserted houses, though hardly anything is left in there. To call it sick would be the understatement, but not shocking. I knew, sooner or later, the fiend will come out.

Now the silver line. In Varanasi, the street beggars, who have been dying of cold, if not hunger till yesterday, have been contributing to the relief fund. This, I would call supreme sacrifice because they hardly have anything to contribute. It would also mean skipped or half meals. This was pleasantly shocking, but again Ghayal Ki Gati, Ghayal Janey, Aur Na Janey Koi.

I remember during Rajdhani mishap in Bihar, while the local villagers were trying to bring trapped passengers to safety, in the pitched darkness of night, the police Jawans were caught stealing jewelry and money from the bodies dead and wounded.

Likewise, when that killer fire broke out in Delhi's Upahaar theatre in 1997, even as a holidaying Army Major gave up his life while trying to save the trapped people, some perverted youth were seen molesting the hapless women.

And I don't even want to talk about the fiends who surfaced in Godhra, and later, during riots.

For my comfort, I would ignore the clouds, and cling to silver line, hoping that former would be only the minor aberrations. More an exception than a rule, or else the civilization wouldn't have survived so many thousand of years.
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