"Why am I not allowed to go inside the building? Just because I'm poor, don't wear expensive clothes like you? I built this building for Gods sake, my brother broke his arm while doing the glasswork on the sixth floor, so then why this indifference ? who do you think you are ? God is looking at you"
And then he suddenly turned away and left almost as quicky as he had come. Wish I could even remotely describe the animal rage in the eyes of that man. I felt scared, threatened, alone. Then he left, almost as suddenly as he had approached. But before he left I could see a smirk forming on his face and there was this uneasy calm about him. The calm of a man in control, a man who knows what he is doing and the effect that his actions are creating.
All the way while I was driving back to my place, his audacity was staring me in my face and his words ringing in my ears. I was thinking of how to put him in his rightful place, should I call the police or maybe send a mail to the facilities and services lead. That would be more like the smooth talking well behaved corporate guy that I am and they would surely find him out and show him the door.
But by the time I reached home I realized that I had crossed umpteen unfinished buildings on my way, and work was going on in full steam there. Who are the people who work there, a crowd of faceless people from the so called darkness(as Arvind Adiga would have said). Suddenly all that he said made perfect sense, though the manner of his expressing himself was wrong but then what other options and/or platforms does he have at his disposal to vent his frustrations. Have we failed them as a society ? Have we as a nation not been able to keep the promise that Nehru made at the strike of the hour on 11th August 1947 ? Has the 'tryst with destiny' not been kept ? Where are we going wrong? What needs to be changed, what needs to be done differently ?
To Be Continued.
