The Me(diocre) Indian!!

I hit the snooze button even before the alarm disturbs the perfect silent morning; and go back to my sleep. Half an hour of sleep & the delay it would cause will not kill me at work, will it?

I go about my morning routine & step out to buy milk for tea. My mind is quick to defend the extra rupee every shop charges other than the designated milk booths. But then again how valuable is a rupee these days esp. when you can avoid walking to the milk booth?

I gather all of last night's wrappers, empty cartons, plastic bags & toss it in full style into the dustbin. Tch, just missed!! well, the house maid is being paid to keep my house & the surroundings clean.

I get ready, step out. Omg, omg, the traffic all set to get onto my nerves yet again. I finally get a rick to my stop, after shooing off a couple of them for charging double fare 'cause of the heavy traffic on the roads (as though its all my fault...gah), cursing the traffic lights or choosing such an apt moment to turn red.

I manage to find my way to an empty seat in the bus, put on my earphones with ear-blaring music, take the newspaper out of my bag & read the cover story Rest in Peace Nirbhaya. We Won't. My eyes are moist for a few seconds, by now the whole of India has been following the gang rape case. No girl/ woman deserves what was done to her..the apple of her parents' eyes a few days earlier, her indomitable will to live inspite of all the surgeries, thanks to the brutality of a half a dozen men!! The whole of the first page is filled with articles about her and political tears. I snigger at the words a host of the politicians choose at the incident. I let out a grateful sigh that I did not vote for this bunch of people.

New year is round the corner, the rest of the pages are filled with advertisements of huge discounts, exchange offers & what not. My mind begins wandering..I deserve to go on a shopping spree, after all the hard work i put in to earn my money & what better way than to save with a upto 60% discount.

I huff n puff my way to the office. I snap at the housekeeping staff for the delay in cleaning the restrooms-some moron had the audacity to not clean it after use. So what if the moron turns out to be a good friend at the work-place? The housekeeping staff is paid for the work, the least that she could do efficiently.

I stroll around after a long & lazy lunch. Getting back to my building, I happen to pass by a commotion at the entrance. I walk to the reception to check with the security guard for an update. One of our founder members suddenly collapsed unconscious. They were waiting for the ambulance to wheel him to a corporate hospital, though the campus doctor clearing him off asked to put him under observation. My wandering mind wonders if they’ll give us an off for the rest of the day. Sigh, wishful thinking!!

Its 5. Yippiiiee..movie time followed by shopping spree J. An alt+tab highlights the errors I need to fix, however my mind has already raced to making a shopping list, malls to visit. I’ll come in early tomorrow to fix them, I leave a note to my team that I’m done for the day. Everyone lies once in a while; so it shouldn’t really matter.

I reach my PG after splurging my hard-earned salary; but heck I’m happy & that’s all that matters. There is a noisy fight between a couple that lives at the end of our lane; suddenly there’s a thud, a loud scream, and silence! I ignore what just happened. It’s a domestic issue & I cant interfere.

I grumble and eat the food served at the PG. A few morsels down my throat and I decide that the food is worth adorning the bin. I notice a stray cat sitting at my window sill, looking at my plate with hypnotic eyes. Eeeiiikkkk!! I hate cats. Plus if I feed it now, it’ll end up on my sill every other night for food. I throw whatever my left hand can grab in its direction & empty my plate in the bin.

I wash up & hit the bed with a romantic novel.

I am the mediocre Indian. I live in a not-so-urban area of a metro city. I go to office. I eat. I sleep.

I crib about rapes, light a candle; change my profile picture on Facebook to a black dot to express my support to the protests.

I rant about the shortcomings in the city. I happily while my forced-holiday from work on a election day 'cause its no use voting for the current lot of politicians.

I am indifferent. Indifferent, to all that happens around me but doesn’t affect me directly.

I am indifferent. Indifferent, to any victim ‘cause I have no reason to care about them.

I am indifferent. Indifferent, to any shouts for help ‘cause I don’t hear what doesn’t bother me.

As Elie Wiesel puts it so rightly: The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.

We are ashamed of what happened to Nirbhaya, and that it happened in our country. Will this guilt push us into the right action though?

It’s time to change & we cannot build a better India with mediocre people.

It’s time to do something different than hide behind the proud pout of I am different.