May I help you

I read a survey on " the most courteous! " . It was very disappointing to know that not even a single state from India was named in the first 15. Further, it was discouraging to know that MUMBAI topped " the least courteous! " I will disclose the most civilized city at the end of this blog just to hold some suspense :)

Off late I have started noticing how polite people are. In my office, we need to push open a door to cross the main entrance. People just push it and release it the minute they are in. They just don’t bother to see if anyone is coming behind them and that the door might hit them. If a person drops a pile of papers, there are hardly one or two who come to help them. In most of the shopping complexes, customers are not thanked for their shopping. Not like it’s compulsory but it just reflects the country’s mannerisms. Indians take a lot of time to reply to e-mails. We are slow in responding when compared to the rest. When we see a person fall, not only do we stop ourselves from helping them out but also roll and laf just on their face and walk off :

Courtesy crops up with image building. May be to grab surya s attention, girls rush to help a blind man cross the road and to get the babes focus, the guy gets up and offers his seat to the old lady standing next to him in a bus. At least this way they are doing some good: D

I was beginning to believe that, we are living in a world of brutality where morality is looked up with relativism and these "courtesies" are realistically defunct!

There are some incidents that took place, which nonplussed me to come to the above conclusion.

1. I was pushing 2 suitcases and a carrying a bag along a straight path. As it is understandable, I was struggling: P A guy (complete stranger to me) came and offered to push the 2 suitcases. I was really glad to be helped by some one :) I wonder how many of us will really offer to do this when we see some1 being over loaded.

2. Recently my sister and me met with an accident. We were on our scooty. Both of us fell off our bike after being hit. I cud easily get up but my sister was finding it tough coz the bike was on her. I saw my sister bleeding and I was too shocked to react. By the time I cud get up and help her out, there were many who came , washed her injuries, tied her bleeding with a cloth and caught an auto to help us go to the nearby hospital. I owe a million thanks to them :)

3. I was on my scooty and my friend was in her car. She was going in the front and I was following her. We had to take a U turn on a slope. While she was waiting for the vehicles to go, suddenly she lost control and slipped back and the car hit my scooty. The faintest of touch by the car made me drop my bike :P I was trying hard to pick it up. My attempts were nugatory :( Being a neophyte in driving my poor friend couldn’t leave the car and come out. Ha ha ! (I m sure to get slapped by her :P ) There came an old man, picked my bike (with my assistance) and handed over to me. Then he said " sorry ma, I couldn’t help properly as I was just discharged 2 days back after getting a kidney operation done" I was taken aback. There were other people who could have always helped me. I experienced an ambivalence of emotions for him . There are still nice people in this world.

It s after all, these small things in world that make us feel really happy being a part of it.

Though we are much behind in being courteous, it is never like we cannot become better. It would be better if we ape the western courtesies than the western culture ;)

Now for the suspense, the city ranking 1 in being courteous is NEWYORK, USA. " After 9/11, NewYorkers are more caring. They understand the shortness of life "