God in small things

Another one from my bus-diary -

Travelling by bus, you should be carrying exact change lest you meet a moody conductor who gives you a sermon about his ‘change’ problem.

Another normal day when the bus conductor was abusing an elderly man 'coz he didn’t have change. He was using extremely foul language but nobody dared to interrupt him because everyone knew that it would simply complicate the matter. The old man probably thought the same, for he just stood patiently, handling the verbal assault with a calm disposition. Soon the bus passed a small temple and the conductor subconsciously became silent and religiously folded his hands and prayed. It was amazing to see how a stone elicited his respect but not a person in flesh and blood. After his revered gesture to the almighty he continued with the abusing. All this happened in a matter of seconds and was almost mechanical. The old man who had observed all this coolly said, “Aadhi disnarya mansaanshi neet vagayla shika magach tya na disnarya devapudhe haath joda” (Learn to respect people in flesh and blood before you bow before that invisible god).

The line had its effect for the conductor just went away to handle other commuters but this time, his mannerisms had mellowed down.