Weak ends

Two little kids lay wounded in the mid summer afternoon sun. Their shirts have been ripped off to reveal dry blood on their lean bodies. They were alive I knew. But I wished they weren’t.

A scene from post-war Iraq? A UNICEF visual? Two unfortunate souls far from people who could help? No. These kids were lying on the footpath on a busy street in one of world’s fastest growing cities - Bangalore. Probably been hit by a vehicle and waiting for the ambulance you’d think. Wrong. If you looked closely you’d see a man nearby trying to stop people on the footpath and direct their attention to the kids. He wasn’t trying to rescue them. He was the one who’d wounded them in the first place to invoke maximum pity in the people he was begging for money. He was blood stained himself. I so very badly wanted to believe that the blood on the kids were his. Only applied on there frail bodies for effect. But one look at the faces of the unconcious little ones and you’d know that wasn’t true.

As people hurriedly rushed along, brushing the man aside, not willing to waste a moment of their invaluable weekend, a billboard in the background proudly proclaimed – ‘State Bank of India is now completely networked. You can access your accounts from any of the 63 branches across the country’. Wow!! We are getting somewhere indeed.

I wonder where.