One of my students, a stock broker, told me about his journey by bus to Madurai. A passenger in the bus had wanted the bus to stop at a small town where it was not scheduled to. The conductor informed the passenger that the bus would stop only at madurai. An hour or so into the journey, the passenger, (let's call him Murugan, coz I hate being vague) Murugan called the conductor of the bus and handed him his cell phone saying that the state minister for transport K.N.Nehru was on line and wished to speak to him. This was bolt from the blue for the conductor. It seemed the minister was really on the phone and the conductor told him that he too was an office bearer of the ruling party at the district level and then the minister asked him to adjust with Murugan and do what he wanted.The bus then made a detour and left the highway and stopped at the town. Now several questions arise in the logical part of my brain.
1.Why should the minister even attend the call of such a person?
2. Even if he did attend it accidentally, why should he give importance to a local rowdy?
3.Has he no other pressing duties and commitment rather than personally solve this minor, silly, insane problem?
4. Is rowdyism moving on to a level that such public display of bullying is permitted and even authorized?
5.Was there no one among the public who was not enraged and who questioned the unwarranted delay caused by this drama?
6.Why would a powerful person such as Murugan travel by public transport? If the minister was at his beck and call, he should be able to travel by car.
Help me answer these questions, plz
2 comments:
In your text, you do not mention that the passenger Murugan is a rowdy. It is only in questions that we know that the protagonist of the story is an unwanted element in society.
Next, in the attempt to answering your questions, the present status of our state is so very bad that any Tom, Dick and Harry could execute what their intentions are by bullying anyone in the names of ruling members of state. I myself do not know why such a 'big shot' chose to travel on the public transport system.
Coming to your question of whether there was no brave soul on the bus that could have objected to the detour, many are not bothered with anything as they are mostly lassez faire people minding their own business and fail to arise in demanding occasions.
I let you know a secret. India will never be under any siege or insurrection as the people are so very thick-skinned that nothing would pierce their impervious hide.
The person who told me this story did not consider that Murugan looked like a typical rowdy. He was just like any other passenger until he picked up the phone and walked to the conductor's seat.
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