The dangers of everyday life aren't often talked about. How difficult is it if you are walking down the street and you have a chance encounter with a group of uncontrollably brash boys. These boys must be in their late teens so not calling them men nor do they justify enough reason to be called men. It so happened that yesterday being a Sunday I decided to venture out on my own without a car, without my dearest honeycomb Ira. I just decided to walk up to Lenskart (a 3 km walk) to get my eye checked and get some fresh air all the same. I had barely left home taken a left turn (perhaps the wrong one if things got even more out of hand) and started walking. It's then I noticed a group of very exasperated young boys trying to hit each other with something long and sharp (wasn't even sure if it's a sword) or even something that looked strangely similar. I had palpitations inside and just a minute before chancing upon them I was surveying a children's park right opposite this incident thinking of how my little Ira would have loved to play in the park on a sunny Sunday afternoon. I stopped short on my tracks but forced myself to keep walking when I saw a young lad running for his life barefeet towards me and a group of angry boys with swords in their hands following him like they would slaughter him to pieces the moment they got any closer. I was just a hair away from this frantic boy, whom fear had literally given wings and also just an inch away from the youngsters in their scooter with that shiny sword like thing in their hands. What if these boys (who seemed somewhat inebriated) threw the sword at me in desperation of not getting their primary prey, what if I accidentally got hit by the sword while the primary target was the barefeet 17 something boy, what if I lashed at the ferocious youngsters to stop this madness and then became a victim in case of caught between crossfires. So many thoughts crossed my mind minutes after I pulled myself along in this scene. The cars had all stopped, the scooter wala in front of me was too shocked thinking of the invitable fate of the boy who was running for dear life and what may have happened to him? The passers-by were doing very passers by things like just looking at the scene. When i asked one of the locals to call the police, he seemed to shy away but he was curious to know what was happening all the same. Such customary animal instincts and inhuman. I had left the scene in a hurry, not knowing what fate befell the young boy. I just remember within seconds an incident during holi in my father's native Asansol, where I as an 8-year old watched with utter horror from our window as a man was attached with hockey sticks and another one was killed with the same. I remember the dastardly act very vividly, a traumatic incident all the same for a young girl of that age. Anything may have happened yesterday, or perhaps has already. All we needed was some right-thinking individuals to take charge of the scene and call the damn police to control the possible bloodshed.
Banaswadi, Bengaluru
5.5.2024
