Charity begins at home...

Guys, just picture this...I am walking by a road in Chennai, and i pass a huge building, probably a business centre. Now, this building, has a long red wall fencing it off from the main road. So to avoid the crazy autos and rickshaws making a 5 lane road off a 2-laner, i walk as close as i can to the wall. However, upon closer inspection, i notice that the wall used to be white. Lime white to be exact. And then i wondered, How did this white wall become red?

Little did i expect my answer to emerge right before my eyes...because, just 5 feet away, i see an old guy, very well dressed, hands on hips, chin raised up...and with one fast movement, his face comes down, like as if he is sneezing, and spits out blatantly the remains of his betelnut onto the once-white wall. Well, the great natural engineers they are, the guy fortifies his 'paint' by pissing right on it, in the middle of this busy street, and then so casually zips up, adjusts his tie, and makes his way to his Hyundai parked nearby, and makes off into the melee...

Well, yes it was a comical sight to behold, not to mention gross, but most of all, it was shocking. I mean, i am in the middle of a city, right in front of this huge flashy building, with hundreds of people on the street, and there we have a well-to-do old guy spitting and pissing in the middle of it all. What is it that we can derive from this little behaviour.

Trust me guys, this is by no means a little behaviour. After all, this is just one of the millions roaming in the streets, and i doubt that many would have a guilty conscience over this act.
Before i go further, i need to remind all you reading this that this article is not about criticising any specific person or country...however, it deals with a rather general concern...

Civic-mindedness is almost absent in the majority of the urban population in developing countries. I dont think i would be able to imagine anyone spitting out betelnut and then pissing on it right on Wall Street. that would be sacrilege. which brings me to wonder, almost everyday, on how people can be made to think responsibly and become civic-conscious about the environment in which they live in. And mind you, these arent little kids that we are talking about, nor are they teens. These are fully grown up adults that I target here.
let me strike a bit closer to home. I am willing to forgive what I saw in India, but then the mentality of the general public here in Malaysia is just despicable. And I do not say this with a happy face, coz i've lived all my life here, and it is sad to see the people having a freakin third class mentality with all the first class provisions they have here.

if I were to write on this topic, i would go on forever, but of course it is not of mine to criticise entirely, as everybody has faults including yours truly, but then I feel that I would not be acting responsibly if i dont voice out some...

1) There should be a special subject in schools dealing with how to behave when getting on and off trains and buses

Trust me, this is where my mood gets spoilt every morning and evening without fail. As soon as the train doors open, and you get ready to get off, you see this huge sea of adults, smelling nice in the morning and stinking in the afternoon, just waiting to stampede thru you and the other tens standing behind you. I try my best not to push anyone, but these people who just cant wait to get in, really grates the nerves. It wouldnt be surprising for you to believe that several times i was not able to get out at my stop, coz of these stupid impatient people who want to get in at the cost of us getting out. This often creates a very much unneeded congestion at the entrance of the train, and the pushings just do not get lesser by the day. And the worse part is, nobody seems to give a damn about it. If I were to be in the crowd pushing thru, I'd feel damn bad of the people I bump against, which would have me spewing out apologies. But no, I have never heard a sorry from any of the public who have forcefully nudged against me as I try to get down. By the was, the experiences I relate here occur on the KTM Kommuter, which is actually driven by a driver. If it was the unmanned Putra Lrt, i would understand to an extent, but not forgive. Very often, you see people laughing as they try to squeeze thru, as if they were in a funfair or something.

This is worrying, as children watch and learn from the grown-ups. Is this how you want your children to behave when they grow up? Not having a consideration for others, Machiavelli is the order of the day. In almost every sense of it. You get this young man rushing and sitting on the special seats reserved for the elderly, while an old lady would be standing right in front of him. He would look up, smile at her, put on his earphones, and then rock his head away to the beat, as if he had already achieved everything in life. IT IS SICKENING!!! Same thing applies for the bus. I dun knw if there is a witch living at the back of the bus, but people just plainly refuse to stand at the back. What results is a bus which is jam packed with people in its 1st half, and the 2nd half of it with plenty of standing space. The bus driver is powerless, as all he can do is shout. He cant come out with a rotan, and scold each and everyone. Come on, we are all adults here, how difficult is it to understand to act responsible.
With each and every word I write here, I become angrier and angrier...not at them, but at my own helplessness at the situation...

2) Thou shall eat everything that you take on your plate.

Ever watched Aladdin? there is a scene of a woman and her son rummaging through the dustbins for a bit morsel, and then Aladdin gives them the food which he painstakingly had stole from a merchant. Everyday, we watch, well at least I watch, the news on the famine in Africa, and then they show these images of some bones covered in skin, upon closer inspection, is an image of a really malnourished child who just has that bit of life in him, and without choice, spends it in starvation. What can we do for them??

If you ask me, the least that you could do is to appreciate the food on your plate, and finish EVERY SINGLE BIT OF IT, and then end your meal with a grateful prayer. To all of you reading this, ever been to a public open house? To those in UIA, the sight of the plates in the canteens, esp Ali canteen, would say a thousand words, and would probably feed a thousand more...People take more that they can eat, and then leave half their food fashinably for wastage. Its like as if the sanctity of the food we eat is lost forever. I can bet my life that on any said day, if one were to collect all the food left after dinner, you could probably feed many families with it. If you ask them, they say "Its my food, I can do anything with it". Oh really!!! You may feel as frustrated when reading this, but then what can we do anyway. it all comes down to the mentality of the general public again. If it were just being done by a small handful, i'd go punish them Anniyan style in the night, but then almost everybody is doing this, with the least of regret. You see kilos of cooked rice and other dishes constantly heaped into a big black plastic bag, where they can only rot. and those starving people on other parts of the world, all they can do is to stare up at the gods, and eat the sand beneath their feet, if any.

Its so sad. People are taking everything for granted. Thats probably because you did not have to work for anything anyway. The government gives you so many benefits, you feel that since you pay taxes, you can do anything you want.

I do not want to go into a number three, coz I believe that change should be developed in steps. I feel that if people begin to act responsibly for a small thing, they would feel motivated to continue..After all one good deed begets another..You never know, today you act responsibly, someone else who has watched you will be motivated by it, and follow...

Just tell me, how much would it hurt to wait patiently for people to disembark before you get on a train...Does it require strenuous physical labour??

how much would it hurt to get up and give up your seat for an aged person, or a pregnant lady? would you lose a leg over it?

How much would it hurt to move to the back of a bus, so that more can find a place? Do i have to kiss your feet for you to do so?

However, i would kiss your feet for this : Please finish whatever food that you may have on your plate. Please do not waste food. Waste your money, waste your petrol for all i care, but then please do not waste your food...

Ok ok, actually I have no right to tell you what to do, but then all of you have a right to be responsible, and it is a right that you have to exercise. Set a good example for others, even if your life depended on it...And trust me, you will go a long way...

Praying for a better world for my children to live in....

Mahees