Human Fear and Kindness

Human fear: I’ve decided to move out of the compound to live in an apartment 2km north. After 1 week of living alone and bathing from a cup, I realized the ascetic lifestyle was not for me. Anachi, the servant, takes care steps to kept he place clean. But, even then, the swarms of mosquitoes, and finally a giant prehistoric looking cockroach was the last straw. Last night, I turned the lights to the kitchen to make ramen and there was the cockroach again, leisurely crawling his way into hiding. Ever since I was a child, I had an irrational fear of cockroaches. More than any pest, the cockroach would stir a primordial reaction that no amount of reasoning can overcome. And this one was BIG. So after 5 minutes, gripping onto my ramen packet, repeating to myself that the cockroach is more afraid of me than I of it, I finally had the nerve to scramble towards the store, dump the ramen in water, and run away. So anyway, tomorrow I will moving to a new apartment.

Human kindness: Bus rides in Chennai are a completely fascinating experience of their own. For those who liked part 1: Chennai Traffic Jams, you will love Part 2: People Packing on Buses. For many people, who can’t afford to take auto-rickshaws, bus rides are the only way to get to work. The buses are usually so full that they only stop for 8 seconds. There it’s imperative for one to dash for it and as the bus doors are kept open, there will still be many running alongside and jumping on as it moves. They will be boarding until there’s legs and arms dangling out the door. I’ve seen one guy hanging onto the side of the bus with fingers gripping the window grids. But, in the end, they all manage to make it to work. Even more miraculously, the people of Chennai manage to maintain a level of courtesy and order amidst this chaos. The women and men file neatly to separate side as they board. Furthermore, women are all given priority for boarding and moving towards the center. And, children are taken care of by everyone. A woman holding a young child boarded and I thought naturally someone would give their seat, but rather the DPG social worker with me (complete stranger to the woman) held out her arms and took the child on her lap. In the back, an old lady with a rice sack was getting off. A line of men passed her rice sack to the door as she slowly waked out. All this was without so much a word. It was just understood.