Lost in the maddening pace of life;
running around doing nothing.
I have come and I will go;
leading a life of no meaning.
Coz’ I have never felt the pain of others;
forget doing something about it.
Coz’ all that matters to me is my own small world;
stranger is the other man on the street.
Till my friends and family are happy,
I am happy and satisfied.
If someone else sleeps hungry,
that’s his fate and fight.
Even if I can help make one life better,
I have the means and capabilities.
I sit idle blaming the government and system.
Those people are their responsibilities.
Can’t I help one man on the street;
start may be with my own driver’s daughter?
Can I not send her to school?
At least one life I can empower.
There is an accident on the road;
soaked in blood he lies.
But I do not want a legal hassle,
succumbing to my attitude he dies.
I read about him in the paper next day,
but conveniently absolve myself.
After all, it is just another of those accidents;
the man’s driving must have been careless.
Could I not have taken the bleeding man to the hospital
and think later of the legal modalities?
It was first a life which needs to be saved,
on his survival depended the survival of humanity.
I hear about murders, rapes, riots and wars.
But there are just too many of them happening around me.
I have become too numb to feel anything,
‘bored’ I switch the channel on my TV.
Until it happens to someone I know;
it remains as just another news story.
After all what can I really do alone,
it’s a problem of the entire society.
There is a fellow traveler in the train.
But I don’t talk to him.
He seems to be of a different state.
I guess he is a ‘Muslim’.
Can I not befriend the fellow traveler?
Can I not enjoy his company?
Can I not share a smile with him?
What makes it difficult for me?
I travel in car and he is on foot,
I splash muddy water on his clothes.
Closed are not just my car’s windows;
but also my heart’s doors.
Why can I not see him walking?
Why can I not slow down?
Why have I become a robot;
Uncaring of those around?
I need to slow down in life,
Life needs to be more than I, me and myself.
Else I have come and I will go;
until I start caring about a stranger, until I begin afresh.
Disha's Writings 