I am sitting in the dentist office for getting an old tooth repaired. Suddenly a screaming is heard in the corridor. An old man carrying a screaming child of 10 years enters the clinic. He wants to go straight to the doctor but the receptionist prevents him. The man pleads that the child needs immediate attention due to considerable pain. The receptionist notes down the name of the child and asks for RS. One hundred as consultancy fee the poor man stares in disbelief at the receptionist. But I have got only RS. 50 with me, says the man…”then go somewhere else”, tells the receptionist. The poor man picked up the child and went down the stairs. I sat there for a few minutes waiting for my turn and then got up and asked the receptionist for refund and walked out to find another doctor.
We were having langer at the gurudwara on the occasion of birth day of Guru Nanak. It was a bright sunny day. Men, women and children dressed in their very best were thronging the Gurudwara. The melody of the “kirtan” was filling the air. Every thing was at peace with every thing. There were long lines of men and women before the langer hall waiting for their turn Devotees who had finished eating were coming out and throwing the left over’s in a drum kept for the purpose in a corner. Suddenly a man wearing tatters appeared from nowhere and started gathering the left over’s in a piece of cloth. He was collecting it and furiously eating it also. Before anybody could react, and stop him from eating the refuse he had filled up his cloth and run away. It saddened me no end. When will India shine for the poor man?
When you visit city restaurants or coffee houses you find them crowded with young people who do not have any hesitation in spending rs.85 for a cup of cold coffee or rs250 for a domino pizza. You feel happy to see the youngsters flush with money. They are the people who have worked hard for their education and now have lucrative jobs and don’t mind spending for the good thing of life. You see their shining faces and feel that India is shining come out of the eatery and small, dirty children begging confront you and my India looses a lot of the shine.
I am a sarpanch of a small village in Punjab. Block development officer send me a message that the grant of rupees one lakh sanctioned for my village has come and I could come and collect it. I go to his office and he counts out one lakh rupees and hand over the bundle to me and asks me to sign the receipt for the same.” But, but, Sir your 20%” I blurt out. He smiles gently and tells me that gone are those days when unscrupulous people use to indulge in such corrupt practices and deprive the needy of the funds. He also tells me to go and spend the money on brick lining of the village streets. He assures me that no overseer will come and demand his cut for passing the work and no panchayat secretary will demand money for auditing the accounts. I am happy now that full hundred paise and not thirteen paise will go to pave the streets of my village. There is a cruel knock on the door and I wake up from my sleep. The overseer has come to demand his percentage
While driving my car I am careless and jump the red light at the road crossing. The traffic cop at the crossing challans me, gives me the ticket, which says that I should deposit the fine at any post office or any bank. Though unhappy at being fined I am pleasantly surprised at the respectful conduct of the policeman and the simplicity of depositing the fine. Gone are the days when the cop would take you aside and try to settle the matter there and then. Also gone are the days when you had to visit the office of the sub division magistrate to pay the fine to be told that sahib is out and therefore come next Friday. Those n numbers of visits and consequential loss of working hours is gone. Gone also is that haughty looking relic of the British Raj who sitting behind a long table announces “hundred rupees” and if you remonstrate at the heavy fine, he booms” two hundred rupees”. The cop brings me back to the present and offers to let me off the hook for fifty rupees.
I am standing in a queue at the post office for getting my monthly income scheme money. There are three lines, one for the ladies, one for senior citizens and the third for the aam admi. The line of the ladies is the shortest but is being continuously supplemented by the new arrivals. When the men standing in their lines. Feel relieved that the women are finished, a few arrive and hope of men for early clearance turns into hopelessness. The lady working on our counter seems to take ages to clear one case. Every body standing in the lines ultimately gets irritated and sniping at each other starts After nearly two hours of waiting I am near the counter and can touch it. Suddenly the power fails and the computer stops working. Power come back after 15 minutes but the computer has decided that it had enough for the day.” Sorry please come tomorrow as the computer has developed some fault and we are helpless without the computers” Next time I go to the post office I will take my wife along to stand in the shorter line.
I gave my driving license for renewal in the office of the local magistrate duly attached with the fee and a medical certificate. The medical certificate, which the doctor gave me by charging fifty rupees, declared that I was medically fit and my eyesight was perfect for driving a car or a scooter. This is another matter that the learned doctor never bothered to check my eyesight. For that matter he never checked anything before issuing me the certificate. The dealing clerk who accepted my application eyed the medical certificate suspiciously Uncle, you are wearing thick glasses and here it says that you have 6/6 eyesight. How, much money did you give the doctor for this. On being told he offered to overlook it for one hundred rupees. Over looking inconvenient thing costs money, he sermonized.
At times if you look at the real life of film stars you really start having pity on them as when they are stars known as celebrities for their hard work. When they are in the lime light they get all the attention and pampering they can from people outside no matter where they go, but they are always wooed by people but as soon as they are no more popular as stars may be bad luck they are no more recognized by people around. They would immediately be treated like ordinary people the thought itself kills them but its their luck, which plays a big role.
Shakira the well-known singer must be high grades in singing she is being going to classes at the university of California Los Angeles. Called introduction to western civilization. She is studying there with professor Robert Cleve. She is doing for her own enlightenment to have more knowledge…its amazing to see such a celebrity to act like an ordinary student sitting between the other students and taking classes as already a celebrity. She as a celebrity having no attitude in the class or with people around. She is intelligent as per her professor as she keeps discussing the course with him after the classes as well.
Once there was a lady who uses to love dancing. She was in her 40s. But looked quite young than her age, she was crazy about dancing. The minute she heard any music anywhere could not control on moving herself…though she was a good dancers as well but still she joined dance classes…she learnt more steps to be more innovative in her dance. When she went to the discos she would take the charge over the floor and dance for almost 2 to 3 hours continuously…she always preferred dancing solo was never comfortable dancing in the crowd. But surely it was amazing watching her dancing and taking the charge all alone.