He was waiting at the bus stop when he heard, “I will slap you“, said a lady to her kid who was trying to climb the post. He looked at the kid with a smile. Next to that lady, was a guy talking on phone so loudly that everybody could listen to his conversation. It seemed that he was not happy with his boss. It was just 09 AM and everyone was eagerly waiting for the bus.Finally, the bus arrived and all of a sudden there was chaos; since everyone wanted to board the bus to grab a seat.
He managed to onboard the bus; bought a ticket and then tried to find a spot where he could stand for his hour long travel (since there were no seats left for him). He grabbed the pole at the back and tried to get comfortable. This had become his daily routine and nothing had changed over the past few days.
Once settled, he was ready to listen to the buzzing around which was his favorite pass time. He first listened to conversation between a group of youngsters on the cricket match that was played a day before. Then he was all ears to a group of ladies who were discussing about female security in the country. While one lady said, “It isn’t safe anymore to go alone, even in daytime“; the other said; “That depends on an individual’s behavior. We need to be careful the way we dress and behave“. That was a bold statement; to which the first lady replied, “Who are others to judge us on our dressing style or our behavior? We live in a free country and we should live the way we want“. Oops…ladies….he silently listened to their debate, when suddenly ……there was a loud noise… something that scared everyone on board.
The bus halted and the driver shouted, “Not again….tire puncture. Let me check“. The driver got down the bus and to his surprise was surrounded by some robbers. It was not the tire that got busted, it was the sound of a gun shot. There was silence for a moment. The robbers stepped into the bus from both the gates with their guns. They started threatening people to handover their stuff. Everyone were scared and were turning pale.
He started to hide himself in the crowd so that he isn’t being noticed by the robbers. His fear was of losing the money that he had borrowed from someone. Today, he was actually on his way to deposit this money in the hospital for his father’s treatment. He started running various permutations and combinations to ensure that he isn’t being noticed. But…. the robbers were not leaving anyone behind. They were asking each passenger to hand over all their stuff. One of the robbers approached him and asked him to surrender his wallet and bag that he was carrying. The bag that had money….
He refused …..but the robber threatened to kill him. He felt helpless and with a heavy heart, handed over his wallet and bag. He was the last to be robbed. The robbers got down from the bus and he stared at them with eyes full of tears. He was pale .. hundreds of thoughts grabbed him now…what will he do now, who will lend him money again, he had lost his job last week, now what .. what will he tell his father, the doctor… his mother… he was stuck and blank!!
He got down from the bus and started to walk towards the hospital. He was feeling helpless and started crying. He stopped for a moment and looked up towards the sky. “Why me??“. He had never hurt anyone. All his life he has being an obedient child, a loyal employee, a good son…. but after all this… when he needed money… he was robbed. But why? He watched the birds flying in the sky and…….. kept walking ……….and asked himself.. “Were those robbers in need? Were those robbers in a worse condition than me? Why can’t people live their lives and let others go about their lives“. All of a sudden…. he fell with a loud thud ….he didn’t notice that he was in the middle of the road and ………. he was run over by a truck 🙁
Sad ending☹️