Tuesday, July 8, 2014

AND   FINALLY     A   CONFESSION   :       OVERDUE    FOR  LONG

[ Carrying  the   Self -inflicted  wound   for  last  5   decades ] ===================================================================
It  was late  1960-s  and   was  new  Delhi's   ' Gole  - Market ' Area .
And  it  was  a   the -then   Vespa   Scooter  that  I  was   driving   from   Pahar ganj to  to  Gole-Market  crossing  the    Panch  Quin  road .
And  I  was  a    young  Doctor[ M.B.B.S +  M.D (1965)], too  confident  and  even  egoistic (80%). I  kept my speed   and  crossed  the road    without  caring  for  traffic  rule     and  he as , laborer    on  his  cycle  and  I  hit his  front  heel..Luckily   he  fell  down  as  I  pressed  hard  on   the  break and   stopped  but   I  too   fell  down  loosing  balance and  none  of  us  was  hurt  badly !
But  !- -  -  But   I  as  a    Doctor  and  he  just  a    laborer, maybe   or  daily  wager. He   managed  to  get  up  be  on  his  feet  picking  up  his  cycle   and  looked  at  me  puzzled  with hidden   grudge .
I  too  pulled  up  my  Vespa  Scooter  put   it  on  its stand ,
Poeople  around   got  collected  and  were  mostly  enjoying    the  scene  and  muttering .They  did  not know  who was  at  fault  !!
 But  I  was  a   well-dressed    young  person  with  the  Ego  of  a  proud  Doctor  inside  and  I  had to  assert  my  personality  and  social  status    even   tough  I    knew  that   it  as  fault  was  my fault  , not his. But   I  had to prove  my  social  status .
 So ,  I  approached  the   poor  innocent  fellow  planted  a  slap on  his  cheek  with  some   high   abusing  words  in  English .  The  poor   fellow looked  more  nervous and fumbled   out  his  innocence.
The on lookers  were all  enjoying     the scene , and   as  a  winner  , I  sat  on my  scooter  and  drove   on   to  my  place.
    *******                                 ********                  *********                        ***********
Now ,  since    and  for  last  25  to  30  years   after    I  read    Dostoyevsky's  " Crime  and  Punishment ", I  have  been  carrying  this    'heavy '  burden    of  my own   GUILT    without  any chance  to   Trace  that  man   and apologize . Yet    whenever   I  meet  a   daily  worker  type  of  man  on  a  cycle   the    scene  comes  back  and  haunts  me .

Finally    I  am  almost  forced  to  record    it here    as  a  token  of '  CONFESSION'   to  earn  some   consolation in the  least  !
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*  The  Hitchcock  film  :   ' I  CONFESS'   that  I  saw  in   my  young  days   and   some  ' Rash- driving -incidence'  involving  some   Bollywood   film  hero  in  later  period  of   my  life    have   some  influencing  effect  in  writing   up  this  article .

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