I live in a fairly well to do complex, parts of which were built by destroying a hill. The remnants of the antiquated hill serve as a single oblong slope, actually a fairly steep one, with a gradient close to 30 degrees. I use this slope for my daily meditative walk. On the aside of this slopes are shanties which host construction workers and equipment.
Today as I walking, I saw some images which struck a chord in me.
Picture this.
A small child (around 4 maybe) from the worker family fell of a cycle, and he hurt his nose. The nose started bleeding. Out of nowhere a few dozen boys and men jumped in to help. I was tempted to offer to help, but it seemed like a crowd already.
As I finished my walk down, I did a 180 and resumed my perambulatory walk up. When I passed the child again, his mother (presumably) had arrived by now. I could see her using the edges of her saree to wipe the blood and comfort the child. (I remember the saree as a white/yellow faded one with lots of floral patterns. The red stains stood out.)
The child dazed and hurt, was still not weeping. He had a stony look of resilience, as he faced up to the helpers and the mother.
Finally the mother lifted him in her arms and him horizontal (presumably to stop the bleeding) before she carried him inside the shanty.
I could not help wonder, what would happen if my daughter (similar aged) would have thumped her nose. Would her friends and ecosystem jump into similarly help? Would she remain stoic and silent with the shock and the wound? Would her mom, also stain her clothes (faded or otherwise)? Would we also just carry her inside our house and just forget all about it?
In my head - the world is similar, sometimes dis-similar and yet it continues through it motion relentlessly, whether we choose to pause and behold, or we just let the river flow by.
Today as I walking, I saw some images which struck a chord in me.
Picture this.
A small child (around 4 maybe) from the worker family fell of a cycle, and he hurt his nose. The nose started bleeding. Out of nowhere a few dozen boys and men jumped in to help. I was tempted to offer to help, but it seemed like a crowd already.
As I finished my walk down, I did a 180 and resumed my perambulatory walk up. When I passed the child again, his mother (presumably) had arrived by now. I could see her using the edges of her saree to wipe the blood and comfort the child. (I remember the saree as a white/yellow faded one with lots of floral patterns. The red stains stood out.)
The child dazed and hurt, was still not weeping. He had a stony look of resilience, as he faced up to the helpers and the mother.
Finally the mother lifted him in her arms and him horizontal (presumably to stop the bleeding) before she carried him inside the shanty.
I could not help wonder, what would happen if my daughter (similar aged) would have thumped her nose. Would her friends and ecosystem jump into similarly help? Would she remain stoic and silent with the shock and the wound? Would her mom, also stain her clothes (faded or otherwise)? Would we also just carry her inside our house and just forget all about it?
In my head - the world is similar, sometimes dis-similar and yet it continues through it motion relentlessly, whether we choose to pause and behold, or we just let the river flow by.
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