Carpe Diem!

What would you do if you see a drunk @#$%^& on the road bleeding himself to death...lying unconscious there...with people walking past through him??

1) Would you just pass by and pretend that you didn’t see…
2) Run fast before anyone notices you around, and thinks that you are not compassionate enough.
3) Or would you (Actually) go to the hospital and urge the lackadaisical staff to help you get him help.

Well, just two days ago me and a friend were walking to the station after work, at around 10 : 45 and we saw this guy who was lying on the pavement, sozzled out of his wits…and was bleeding so bad tht we thought he’d die if we left him there.

So we went to the hospital close by (Nair hospital at Bombay central) and searched for the casualty ward.

We wanted to get some help to help that guy. The casualty was at the extreme end on the hospital compound (I’m not sure why…but maybe they like giving people a bit of an exercise before they actually come there during emergency situations!)

So, we reach there and break our heads over trying to tell those guys in the hospital office to get their Asses moving before the man dies. What surprised me was the lack of interest and the ‘not understanding the gravity of the situation’ bit. (maybe it’s a common thing for them, but it was new to us!)

Finally the man at the desk told a cop about it and the guy made a call to the nearest cop station and asked for assistance. Convinced we walked hurriedly to the same road and stood there.. and stood there and …stood there some more… and before we knew, it was 11:30 ish….

In my head I wasn’t THAT sure if anyone will come there also…but this is one of those times when you want to prove yourself wrong…
So we made a couple of calls to the cop station and told them we’re waiting and asked why they’re still not there and within some mins after that, we saw a cop van parked near the man. There was a huge gathering there…or passer-by’s who were there for the show. (no one had stopped before they threw any lights on the wounded man.)

And when my head was hurting and my stomach was churning and I was feeling all nauseated by just looking at the cops putting the ‘wounded guy’ on the stretcher and into the van…someone passed by and asked “mar gaya kya?” and In my mind I wanted to slap the hell out of that guy for talking like that…for being so uncouth and for his lack of respect for soemones life…but I think I didn’t say anything except for an angry NO. (and I know if it was someone I know, I would’ve verbally beaten the guy into pulp for asking).

So finally the deed was done…he was taken to where he belonged. Our faith in the Mumbai Police restored. I remember telling my friend with a smile (mins after this..) “Mumbai cops are second to the Scotland Yard…. And even though it’s with reference to the intelligence, I just felt like praising them for what they’d done.

As we sat in the train, our minds were flooded with loads of questions. We asked ourselves if we’d still do what we did if we were just by ourselves. Would we have the strength and the courage to do all this..to run around and to wait at that hour without knowing for sure someone will come to help…when everyone else was least bothered, would we still have that same compassion or the strength to help someone you don’t really know…

I think if we hadn’t done THAT we’d not have slept peacefully at night. Im sure I’d lie awake thinking how we let him bleed to death. It would raise a lot of questions and those questions would make me uneasy.

Btw talking about uneasy…there is this strange odour in hospitals that makes me really queasy and also brings loads of memories that aren’t very pleasant….

Btw that’s for another time…cause I need to take a break from all this heavy stuff…