Aggression

I expose myself to the world, daily. I go out, witness the same people doing monotonous acts which they do knowingly or unknowingly. A myriad of people I see on roads, mostly of them being males, blame it on the population which expands faster than the universe and on the anti-feminist beliefs and thoughts which flourish even in the ethos of modern India. I encounter people, with souls drenched in aggression and rudeness.

There have been innumerable instances when people have started yelling and cussing at us while on the roads because of something that went against their wish. People are so biased; be it caste, sex, religion, colour or anything else. The society is highly stratified and everyone is always ready to be offended. And when they get offended, they never, ever let it go. The Rude Indian always shows aggression.

It is a common phenomenon in India to threaten others. I mean, how foolish it is. If there is a small accident, the two drivers come out and they do nothing but argue, fight, threaten, curse, use profanities. They are so much angry about something that they can actually shoot the other person if they had a gun in their hands. Further, Indians, much like the giant cells which accumulate around foreign bodies in our body, gather around the on-going argument and block the road (I wonder where they get so much free time from!). All thanks to the selfish and egocentric nature of The Rude Indian. This tests the temperament of the people waiting. The eternal honking starts, people start yelling (use of profanities is a standard feature which happens almost every time) and arguing among themselves.  There is always havoc on the streets. 

I remember, during school days, boys used to ‘fight’ over things. And I mean literally ‘fight’. They would arrange a meeting and would bring with them their companions. They first would chat, discuss the issue and then would fight. The reasons used to be very small and foolish (I wouldn’t be discussing that). I don’t know what they think, how they think. There is so much to learn, great men have passed away who told us all the things. How many of them, who feel victorious after travelling without a ticket (in a bus), know about Socrates? Have they read about the great men who had once lived in the same world? I sometime think what Aristotle thought when he said ‘All men by nature desire knowledge’, because people here don’t want to change, they don’t want to learn. They are happy with the way they are. They would fight, be un-hygienic, be unmoral, do unsocial things and still be content. No matter how much the government does for the poor, they would still curse the government for everything. A beggar wouldn’t work to earn and would curse his life but still procreate. People after hearing about the numerous road accidents still wouldn’t use the walk-over bridges and jump over the fences. And if something happens that they don’t like, they would of course argue.

In the crowd people would push you to make their way and if your hand touches theirs, they would stare at you or even can say something to you. Phrases of apology and gratitude are a myth here. If you let/offer someone else to enter a building/board a vehicle they would enter/go as if it’s their right and your duty to do so. Where has all the politeness gone?

I know most of the people here are like this, but I have faith and I know many people who still have the basic humanity in them. And I believe it is because of them that the world is not ending, because a single apology, a single smile prevents much complexity. So now, if anyone turns aggressive just give a smile as response.

God forgive us all!