Collective Apathy

Yesterday's events left me confused. Gobsmacked & bewildered too. I don't know whether I should put it down to Mumbai's much-heralded 'undying spirit' or just plain indifference on part of my fellow citizens (includes me as well). Allow me to recount the events of yesterday and I'll leave it to you to decide whether we deserve bouquets or brickbats for such behaviour...

After clocking in another long day at work, I was on my way back home. I boarded the bus (No. 206.... it decides to grace us with its presence as & when it likes.... arrivals are frequently infrequent!). As usual, I was oblivious to everything around me, courtesy- my earphones & a loud Bush number blaring from them. The bus was stationary & was waiting for other passengers to board. Suddenly, I notice a man jump up from his seat & bend down right over to the seat in front of him. Now that struck me as odd, why would he want to do something like that? I get my earphones off & hear loud shouting, something like "There's an unclaimed bag in the bus, a tiffin box in it.... bomb....BOMB!" Now what would you expect next? A flurry of activity, people scrambling to get off the bus, panic on their minds... right? Wrong. Not a single soul moved his/her arse (that includes me too). All but one. This smartarse did move. Parked himself two seats away from the plastic bag, that is. As if adopting this intelligent strategy would save his life. Ok, maybe he would lose a limb or two. But his life would be spared, nah?

For a moment nothing happened. Then the next moment, nothing continued to happen. And we were all in there. Sitting ducks for potential disaster & no doubt, paltry additions to the piling number of victims of terrorism. But nobody moved. The conducter gets off the bus & tries to enlist the help of a policeman (a police station was right in front of us). The good-samaritan-of-a-policeguy attempts to be really helpful by instructing the conductor to go inside-the-police-station-and-lodge-a-complaint-please-thank-you-very-much-is-there-anything-else-I-can-do-for-you-besides-keeping-an-eye-on-the-bus-while-watching-it-explode-plus-I-swear-I-won't-allow-anyone-to-board-without-the-exact-change? If only he wasn't the law, I would have whacked him.

Perhaps I deserved a whack as well. How could I do nothing? I wanted to be useful, but strangely, I thought... no... took for granted, that nothing would happen. Yes, eventually nothing did. Some (brave) hawkerguy took the bag away & our bus trundled along to its destination. But what if the box exploded? I certainly wouldn't be here, writing this shameful tale then. Why did I act (or rather, not act) like I did? Why did the others too? Is it bravado or indifference on our parts? I don't know. But I sure do know that it was outright irresponsible. If this is what Mumbai's 'undying' spirit is all about, then I am highly ashamed of it.