By Vijay Phanshikar :
WHAT happened at the roadside tea stall that afternoon was truly shocking. Two-three boys -- about 20 years of age -- pushed an old man, possibly in his eighties, to the ground and were about to start punching him when other people intervened. The reason of their angry outburst? Simple. The old man tried to tell them not to smoke since that would spoil their health. The boys got enraged, and wanted to punch sense out of the old man.
Watching the scene from a little distance, the loud-thinker, too, felt a surge of anger rise in his spine against the boys (who actually were needed to be punched in the face). After that incident, many people at the roadside tea stall blamed the old man for having poked his nose into the affairs of the youngsters -- and getting almost beaten up.
That criticism may have had its own sense, all right. But, as the loud-thinker felt, the old man’s sense of self-worth would not allow him to keep quiet when the youngsters were spoiling their own health and were creating ruckus in public. Of course, one such intervention would not solve the problem of some people’s wayward behaviour, all right. But wasn’t the old man right in trying to suggest the youngsters to behave properly -- which the loud-thinker, too, would have done?
We do come across reports and pictures of how people on roads or public places only choose to be mere spectators when someone tries to take law into his hands. That afternoon on a Sunday, exactly that was happening at the roadside tea stall. Everybody watched rather helplessly as the youngsters shouted, smoked and disturbed others. So, the disgusted old man stepped forward and tried to tell the youngsters to become aware of the fact that they were in a public place and had no right to create ruckus.
Many years ago, when a few dacoits forced an entry into a house where an old couple lived, the old man could not tolerate the goons entering his home, and tried to resist them with whatever force he had. The goons killed him -- and a senior Police officer was heard saying, in effect, that the old man should not have resisted the dacoits.
The Police officer wasn’t wrong, in a way. For, all he wished to say was that the life of the old man was all too precious to be finished by the goons. Yet, when a handful of goons can go to the extent of killing somebody who resisted, they get their raw power from the society whose members choose to keep quiet.
Thus, this is a matter of social philosophy whose merit none of us has a right to challenge.
That Sunday afternoon, that group of youngsters picked up courage to start hitting the old man because they were certain that nobody would accost them. They managed to push the old man down to the ground, and were about to start punching his face when some people stopped them. The interveners even did not know the old man. yet, they chose to step forward and accost the goons -- who relented.
In fact, good people must always pick up courage to accost people indulging in wrong and bad behaviour and trouble others. When such incidents start happening every now and then, the bad people would start learning their right lessons as well.
The incident that afternoon was small -- but had an important message -- which the loud-thinker tried to convey.