Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Walking down from my sixth floor flat, as I always do, I see a woman get out of the lift. As I pass I hear the fan inside still whirring round. 8220;Why don8217;t you switch off the fan?8221; I ask her. She rounds on me indignantly and snubs me with, 8220;But I didn8217;t put it on.8221; Telling her that, nevertheless she could have switched it off, I open the door and do so.
It8217;s a mere trifle, but it serves well to show the difference between most of us and our opposite numbers elsewhere. I won8217;t say where. Take lifts again, the type which give out a maddening tune 8211; in our case, I Wish You a Merry Christmas 8211; to tell us that the doors have not been properly closed. Quite often I hear the music playing on merrily, on and on, but do you think that the nearest neighbour 8211; and many of them keep their front door open 8211; will come out and do the needful.
I believe that the Japanese are probably the most civic-conscious people in the world. We must be amongst the worst offenders. How many people do you see coughing and sneezing without the slightest attempt to cover their face!
My husband tells of how he was walking with his English hostess in rather a lovely park in Harrogate in Yorkshire. He, like most of us would have done, chose to walk on the grass instead of the pathway. He was politely told of the correct form. 8220;Why on earth not?8221; he asked. 8220;Because the grass is so lovely; we must help keep it so.8221;
On another occasion, sailing off the coast of Nova Scotia he tossed an empty beer can into the sea. The three or four Canadians said nothing, but one of them pointedly put his own can into a garbage bag which was taken ashore on landing.
In our very own Fatima Nagar, there are two short stretches of pavements, very narrow, but there to be used. Do you think they are? Think again.Buying a papaya one morning in our one and only fruit shop, Dutta offered me a plastic bag which I declined. He asked why, and proceeded to answer the question himself. And last week at the bakery next to the fruit shop a small girl asked for a bag for the broom which had been wrapped in paper anyway. I regret to say the owner gave her one.I could go on, but enough is enough.
