GIVING MY SEAT TO A BLIND LAD in a Chennai city bus VENKATACHALAM SALEM
Recently my friend, Raja Christopher sent an excellent video animation !
.
In that video, in a night train travel, a young lady will offer her seat to an old man and travel standing. The ticket checker will find out this good deed and tell that there is a seat in the next compartment. Hence, the lady will start to move out and go there !
Wow ! Only then we will
know that she is a DIFFERENTLY ABLED PERSON, using a crutch like stand to move about !
It was a fantastic video,
nice message.
Will you agree that
-- I had done exactly this at Chennai ?
m.m.m.m.m.m.m.m.m.m
Nostalgia !
In 2005, I worked for 4 months as a video SUB TITLE writer or translator in AYNGRN, Kilpauk Gardens, Chennai. It was such an enjoyable experience, watching Tamil movies, songs and translating it for foreigners. However, I could save anything, hence I will have to return to Salem after 8 months of struggle.
Let me tell further.
My office was at KILPAUK GARDENs in the NEW AVADI ROAD. And I stayed 2 kms below Thiruvanmiyur, at NEHRU NAGAR, in the O.M.R.
Then OMR was like an earthquake zone. All buildings, broken or scrapped 10 feet or more. And rumbles all around. The new OMR was under construction.
Daily I will have to use 3 transports to reach my office. First via a share~auto, I will reach Thiruvanmiyur. Then take a city bus and reach ADAYAR DEPOT. There I will go inside and board an empty bus that will take me to KILPAUK GARDENS via Nungambakam Highway. The conductor will say that the same bus route no. will be available in the main road. But I will have to convince him that I am not in a hurry and that I will wait patiently in the bus, until it starts.
Immediately after I board the empty bus, I will take a magazine or newspaper and start reading it with rapt attention. The seats will be full and many people will be standing. It will be peak hours and all sorts of people will board the bus. Hence, I will be hearing the "sweet" Chennai slang all along.
I will have to travel a solid one hour to reach my bus stop.
Out of 26 days in a month, I used to give my seat to aged people or people who have difficulty standing inside a bus, at least 5 or 6 days. Of course, I will have to lie to them that my bus stop has almost approached and I will be shortly getting down.
Then I did not use a walking stick.
One day, I vividly recall giving my seat to a 20 year old BLIND GUY in a city bus in the peak hour.
Even today I could not digest that fact that why nobody else, who were able~bodied, had not given him a seat, before I could do it?
Ya, I should agree that
India is ranking last in humanitarian index !
Ezhilarasan Venkatachalam Salem
Tamil Based English Trainer
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