We all know about Moses as a person who liberated the cursed people from the insensitive, evil Pharaoh.
We also know Oskar Schindler as a good-hearted German who
saved a significant number of people, otherwise condemned to die, from certain
gallows and gave them a chance at life. The tribe survived and came to be known
as Schindler’s Jews.
Sir Nicholas George Winton, whose work went unnoticed by the
world initially, saved 669 children from the marching Nazis and gave them a new
chance at life. The emotional, surprise, reunion with the children he had saved
is sure to make even the most cold-hearted man like Narendra Modi cry.
Paul Rusesabagina and his wife Tatiana saved more than a
thousand Hutu and Tutsi refugees from certain death during the Rwandan
genocide.
On a smaller scale, there is this Muslim Family who protected
famous chef Vikas Khanna from certain death by claiming that he was their son
when riots broke out in Bombay in 1992.
Feel good anecdotes, humanitarian efforts, display of a kind heart, had never been found wanting whenever atrocities were orchestrated. These
blips of positivity and demonstration of residual goodness are all that is left
to cling on to as HOPE when the world appears to be totally fucked up beyond
repair.
You stand in awe and respect at the mere mention of these
people. The goodwill that they have amassed is infinite.
None of them ever did it out of a sense of heroism. Most
must have been as scared as the people they were rescuing or protecting. Only
one thing could make them go out of their way to do these good Samaritan deeds,
in my opinion.
Their inherent goodness. A
constant belief that this world deserves to be a better place than what it has
been reduced to. The determination that a good act is contagious, and the
ripples of positivity can wash away the dead leaves of indifference, hatred and
insensitivity.
None of them started or planned their acts to become a hero.
But that is what they had finally achieved. They became the
real heroes that the world bowed their heads to. They became part of the
folklore. They transcended time, borders, race, and politics.
Please welcome the newest addition to this exalted list.
SONU SOOD
The pandemic Covid19 unleashed its misery across the globe,
in a short span of 6 months. But, nowhere had the miseries been more pronounced
than in India. The complete lack of planning, the eternal disdain for the poor
and scant disregard by even the judiciary, usually the last hope in any
functioning democracy, all combined to create one of the cruelest manmade
catastrophes in the recent times.
A nationwide lockdown that was announced with a ridiculously
unbelievable 4-hour notice left the most vulnerable members of the nation,
virtually, on the streets.
The migrant workers, that make a huge chunk of the unorganized workforce,
from maids, cleaners, waiters, construction workers, carpenters, cobblers,
were, overnight, left with no means of survival. They had no income, no money
to pay the rent, no means to feed themselves, and were all left thousands of
kilometers away from their home. There is a similar catastrophe playing out at
their homes too, as their only means of income, the money being sent regularly
by these workers, dried up.
The main breadwinner of the house and the rest of the
family were left stranded away from each other with no means of support.
The least that the stranded migrant worker wanted was to go
home. What would they do after reaching home? No idea. But at least they would
die surrounded by their kin.
Gut-wrenching.
The government did nothing. The police made their plight
more unbearable. Most people commiserated and kept saying “something has to be
done”.
There were few instances of goodwill that were demonstrated
with concrete acts than mere lip service. Food, travel arrangements, temporary
shelter, and others, the things that must have been done by the government.
Political parties were milking it to their advantage, as
usual. The blame game started.
In the middle of all this bedlam, emerged a single ray of
hope. A person known for being the villain in countless Indian films, set in
motion a series of acts that made him the hero.
His simple tweet, the caption of this blog, became viral.
For all the right reasons.
(It translates to “Why will you walk, my friend?”)
This was in reply to the plight of millions of stranded
migrant workers, who decided to walk those thousands of kilometers, to join
their families, instead of facing the prospect of dying all alone (or the fear
of losing some members of the family back at home, while they were left
stranded).
Without ANY fanfare, and with no help sought from any
individual or organization, he started to arrange buses for thousands and
thousands of these migrant workers to get back to their home. His wife and his
children joined him and the four of them have been running this unbelievable
enterprise, sometimes working even 22 hours a day, with clinical precision.
One good act begets another. The erstwhile mentioned Vikas
Khanna has chipped in to provide food for the returning workers.
Sood’s humility and deadpan wit have been amazing. To each
request he replies with characteristic humor that puts the people seeking the
help feel at ease; those seeking his help are not made to feel like a slave.
The serious effort is laced with so much banter that the person traveling on
those buses feel as if he had just discussed the picnic plans for the weekend.
This singular magical act of the feeling of the comradeship
instead of the condescending approach has made all the difference. He has
repeatedly refused all financial help, not out of arrogance, but with a clear
resounding message to those who care to hear, that a good deed can’t be outsourced. If you want to make a
difference, you be the one and go do it.
His act is more admirable because it is done in a country
where polarization is the norm, where a good deed is distorted, and the person
is demonized and hounded. He has kept religion and politics outside the noble
gesture, an almost impossible act in India where the two above mentioned
monstrosities always manage to creep in and claim credit or disclaim the
intention.
I end this note with yet another huge bow of respect to Mr.
Sood with these lines from a song written by
Shankar Mahadevan / Ehsaan Noorani / Aloyius Mendonsa / Prasoon
Joshi
(Why should I go to a temple or a mosque; My friend is God)
May your tribe increase my friend, if you allow me the
privilege to address you as my friend.
