It was a normal day at the mess. Me and two of my friends were savoring the morning coffee, deliberating about the silliest of things. All of a sudden, at the right from where we sat, four tables away to be exact, a fan fell down. As expected, it did fall on an IITian. Luckily for him, it somehow only hit his shoulders, spilling his coffee (or tea) all over his white shirt. Three people gathered around, most definitely his friends, along with an attendant from the mess, who feared being unemployed. They tended to him. Fortunately, he was able to walk himself out, looking slightly perplexed.
The others, including us, sat there and carried on with our breakfast; people eagerly watched as the boy walked out with a slice of bread or chutney-dipped dosa in their mouth. But as conscious “humanities” students, we turned our discussion to the event. Why did no one have a problem with what had happened? Or were people waiting to react when this showed up on their s-mails? Is this a result of people ‘minding your own business’, making them do nothing but watch and continue to eat in silence even while someone just narrowly survived a severe accident?
‘Of course, the fan shouldn’t have fallen , and since it did, the consequences are the responsibility of the mess authorities’, ‘That guy seemed alright, and would have asked if he needed something’, ‘class starts in five minutes, gotta run now.’ — All these are possible excuses for the prestigious students of an institute of eminence, who have once again made their loved ones proud by staying focused on nothing but their own immediate concerns (dosa dipped in spicy chutney, in this case). This particular event is pretty exaggerated as you would have already realized, but think of its implications.
Human beings are social animals, and can only survive through cooperation between their fellow beings. This is best depicted in the Iranian story where in order to make their neighbours comfortable enough to approach them with anything, a mother would make her son ask them for salt (a pretty cheap commodity). We need empathy, care and support from one another. People yearn for someone to listen to them, readily paying thousands for a therapy session.
In a context like the one I have just described, the victim, though in need, may not show it; not because he doesn’t want to but because he is worried that it would bother the people around him. Fine, if he doesn’t want us to, we don’t have to, right? Fair enough!
However, where will this presupposition take us in the longer run? To cut it short, it ends in a therapist’s chamber, because we did not bother or want to bother. This is because feeling – “if he doesn’t want us to, we don’t have to bother”– has become so normalised.
Being independent, being on your own are all idealised in today’s world, while mental health goes down and suicide rates go up exponentially.
Maybe we are too busy making this world a ‘better’ place that we have stopped caring about who all can live in it. Maybe we will develop some technology to solve this. Maybe there are just maybes until we realize that its too late. But it’s still easy to smile at a security on the way to class, move a twig from the road or greet the sweeper. And as put by that wonderful man, “be the change that you want to see in others”, and let the world assimilate it.
Edited by Oishi Banerjee & Adithi
Article 19 