Sometime in the eighties, we were
staying at Kalyan then, when a young boy who had appeared for his SSC
examination died. He died of a prolonged illness. He died of cancer. The deadly
disease had seen the young lad’s leg getting amputated. When it became clear
that the boy was counting his last, his friends in the lane where he stayed
observed a fast and prayed for his health.
But the inevitable happened. The
boy was lost to cancer soon. I went to meet the bereaved family. There was silence
all over which was shouting the pain felt by his friends and neighbours. Nobody
celebrated the festival which arrived soon after his death.
Yesterday we watched a penthouse on
the 12th floor of a nearby building getting destroyed by fire, from
our apartment on the 12th floor. A boy moved to parapet and then his
mother too came there to save their lives. Fortunately they were saved, but the
lady’s parents, a very old couple in eighties was lost to fire. Six others were
injured. This was covered by TV channels and Marathi dailies, so all were aware
of it. There was a large crowd of onlookers, and in addition there were several
who watched it from their homes. Reportedly a local MLA’s son appeared on the
scene but was shooed away by the crowd.
Today loud-speakers are blaring
music everywhere in the lane [some very close to the building where fire
accident took place] to celebrate Holi. There is apparently no memory of what we
witnessed yesterday – the fire and rescue event lasted three hours!
And that
raises some questions:
1 Do children have greater sensitivity than men?
2 Is it that a more ‘homogeneous’ neighbourhood [as
it was in Kalyan then] is more sensitive than a ‘cosmopolitan’ neighbourhood?
3 Should we restrict our sensitivity only to
events happening in our building or housing society?
Vivek