Protective nature of life

Year: 2006

Time: 4.00pm

Place: Anna salai, in 23C bus

I was going to my Redhat class & Anand was on his way to home, the bus was crowded and I luckily got a place to sit, in nandanam signal an old man boarded the bus and everyone (including me) took pity on him and want someone(!!) to give him a seat, it didn't occur to me that even I can give my seat, Anand gave his seat to that old man, Wah… what happened to me, I was shocked by my action(or no action), when did I become so selfish and become a common man with no intention of helping (I always considered myself to be one).

This incident provoked me to think, and then I decided to "offer my seat before anybody does"

Year & Time & Place: various part of my life, How many time

• You got afraid/felt uncomfortable when a stranger was near you, may be due to their physical appearance or their outfits?
  
• You tried to avoid some people "thinking" that they might be here for asking help?
  
• You prepare a reason to cry foul, even before the person in front of you start to ask for help?
  
• You avoided a person because you promised them something but didn't do as per it?
  
• You have told lies but kept on emphasizing that you are trying to be honest?
  

Let's stop the questions and ponder for answers.

I believe that "protective nature" of our life, is the main reason for above questions, we are protective about every damn thing in this world.

"Good fences make good neighbors", the good old statement, it tells about a trade-off between being protective and trusting your neighbor.

Can't we live life which is completely free form any sort of "protection", protectiveness has led to lot of uncomfortable situations where we feel lost, helpless even when we haven't done anything wrong, saying simple words (in other words accepting) like "sorry", "no", "I didn't" or "I Can't" etc at appropriate time and place will not only put the opposite party in safe position of taking a decision by their own.

Year: 2007

Time: 9pm

Place: Mysore to Coimbatore bus

An old couple boarded the bus in someplace after Mysore, and its cold, almost all seats are occupied by one person and they wanted to sit in the middle seat where there will be less cold, and they asked with someone and their request was denied, "vaanga, inga ukkarunga"(come and sit here), I said it and sat in last seat, even though I was suffering the cold and rough ride, I was happy that I was helping someone and I kept the promise I made to myself.