OMG, Is the floor alright?
I am sure many of you must have had an embarrassing moment in your life. Like when you had a little accident and fell in front of a bunch of people, either in a public place or in front of people you know. Being a very clumsy person it has happened to me like a million times, both in front of like thousand people (not exaggerating here, there must be a thousand people as the incident happened on the walkover bridge of one of the most busiest railway station) and also in front of people I know. And the way people reacted in both the scenarios was not very pleasing.
The first incident I am about to share happened in Thane station. Those who are not familiar with Thane station, let me give you a little gyaan (knowledge) on the same. Thane city is in the state of Maharashtra. The main commute for people in Thane is the Railways. It is one of the most busiest railway stations and can get really very crowded during the peak hours. I was running a little late for work one day and decided to take the local train instead of the company transport to avoid heavy traffic. I was on platform number one when an announcement was made for the train I was hoping to board from platform number four.
If you are a non Mumbaikar or Thanekar let me tell you that people just run frantically to board their trains. Approximately 99% of the population whose daily commute is via railways have a fixed train to board everyday. If they miss that very train they board everyday they get very pissed and their schedule for the entire day gets delayed. I mean it’s an emotion you will not understand. You need to live that experience to understand it.
Anyway, as soon as I heard the announcement I started moving frantically towards platform number four from platform number one. And while I was just about to descend the last set of stairs, I somehow slipped and fell. Many passersby saw that happening and no one, literally no one came to help. People who were behind me were annoyed that they cannot reach the platform on time to board their train now. So a couple of comments that were clearly audible were “Jaadi ko khud ko sambhalne nahi hota toh kyu bhagi?” (If fatty can not handle herself the why should she run?) . A group of ladies laughed pretty hard and one them very much jokingly said “bhookmap aya dekh” (Feels like earthquake).
I was in pain physically as well as emotionally. I was hurt and also humiliated. I helped myself up, wiped my tears and sat on the bench for a while. I did reach office on time but my rest of the day was not very much as planned.
You know, I have seen many people help a person if they accidentally fell. I, myself have helped many people in such a situation. I wonder why no one came to help me and why instead of helping, people laughed. Was the scene really that funny, that people chose to enjoy and not help a person in need?
Okay, now please bare with me on one more situation of a similar kind. The above one was in front of several unknown people. Now have a look at what happened when the similar situation occurred in front of people I know.
As I have mentioned earlier that I am a very clumsy person and happen to find myself in embarrassing situation almost everyday. My classroom in college was on the fourth floor. My college gang was never very attentive in class and we bunked lectures quite often.
We had a free period and I was just chilling in my classroom with my best friend. Soon, a fellow class mate entered our classroom and announced that free period is replaced by Sociology. Please don’t judge or misunderstand but our Sociology professor was very boring. We never attended that lecture. So me and my best friend decided to escape before the professor arrived.
Very quickly we took our bags and we just ran. And as soon as we reached the second floor I fell down the stairs. My best friend did help me up but also jokingly asked “OMG, are you alright?” pointing the stairs. I did laugh with her but also felt bad at the same time. It has happened with me on various other occasions and my friends had a similar response. Some of them being : Arre hila diya na sabko, dekh kahi zameen mien hole toh nahi hua na?, news on kar ke dekho bhookamp china mein bhi aya hoga, tu gir mat re baba uthane ko bhi koi nahi ayega. And many similar ones.
Even though we may laugh along with you on your ‘innocent’ jokes, sometimes we might not be enjoying them. So please don’t do it all the time. At least be a little considerate and not crack those jokes in front of twenty other unknown people.
And NO! the floor will never get hurt because of us, there wont be an earthquake when we fall, nor will it affect any other country, and someday someone will be kind enough to give us a hand when in need. If one hand is not enough the person might give his other hand too and looking at his kind gesture other people might come to the rescue instead of enjoying the show.