Samaritan in me turns aggrieved

So like a Samaritan I did not hesitate much in stopping near a screaming youth and a woman who were desperately waving their hands and asking the speeding cars drivers to stop. I had seen them from a distance.

Initially, skeptic as I was haunted by several stories of loot in such a fashion in the past and being in two minds whether to stop or not as late as 11 at night I thought I should go ahead and not to stop. But the Samaritan raised its head in me and my car screeched to a halt near them.

The panic stricken youth told me that his father was bashed by some hoodlums at their shanty and he and his sister (he pointed towards the woman) anyhow managed to make good their escape. The two then pleaded before me to take them to Habibganj police station to seek help of police.

As if I was also panic stricken I offered rear seat to the two and sped away towards Habibganj police station. While I was driving the two continued to utter words of frustration and pressurize me repeatedly to make them reach the police station as soon as possible.

However, after the initial moments of panic to help them get to police station as soon as possible I recollected the composure and drove the car at more than moderate speed but not a high speed to invite any accident on the road.

The youth talked of taking revenge with his enemies who attacked his father and them and had talk with his friends also on cell phone swearing revenge with swords. Soon I realized the youth was drunk and I repented my decision to help a drunkard person. But I thought when I had driven this far I should drop them at the police station and get back home. In the panicky situation I forgot that my car’s fuel level was almost getting to zero.

The story unexpectedly had a twist, much to my discomfort. I was barely two furlongs away from the Habibganj police station when the youth said I was driving towards wrong destination saying that there lay Mahila Police Station in the direction I was driving towards and that the police station lay in the other direction.

I insisted that I was going in right direction and I asked them to identify the road with the help of Bittan Market just 200 yards ahead. But in a fit of intoxication he was not willing to listen to me. The woman also joined her brother and the two asked me to drop before Bittan Market.

I did it immediately given the apprehension that if the woman got panicky and she leveled some charges against me I would land trouble. The moment the two got down the youth who was profusely thanking me for timely help and showing courage to stop and extend help them till some moments back started hurling charges against me.

Returning home I said to myself- Good riddance. Though the incident shook me badly, I have no intention of being an uncivilized person in future as not to extend helping hand to needy persons. I will stop.

Melodrama on Bhopal streets, TV channels studios

If one got enough of sop operas run by TV channels one had a good chance to witness a real melodrama staged first on Bhopal streets and then in TV news channels studios.


Interestingly, from simply being a fracas between two lovers the issue has assumed a religious angle too despite the fact both the lovers belong to a particular community. The question being raised now is if lovers could be ostracized from society as they enjoyed a live-in relationship, a concept borrowed from western culture and quite unheard of in our society till a decade back. Or, they should be punished as per Shariat.

Till a few days back, Shehrish’s was hardly a name in Bhopal. She might have been known to a few in her locality but hardly was a name known to Bhopalites. She shot to limelight on Bhopal horizon the moment people of Bhopal saw her being bashed by her ex-fiance Jehangir, also a Bhopal youth. However, the TV footage showed the youth also being roughed up by the TV actress’ relatives.

For the TV news-channels, always in contest for a good TRP and having shot the video footage or arranged the same the episode was a perfect masala kind of show to dish out to their viewers. What could have been a better show than the one based on a TV actress in tears in real life? But there was more sensational part of the story which was yet to come and it had the potential of being aired at the national level by the TV channels.

Faced with charges of bashing up his ex-girlfriend by his ex-girlfriend herself and her parents the boy released some video footage shot with his mobile camera and also pictures to the news channels which certainly showed the actress in a poor light. She was seen in the video shot saying that she was just married and that she was Mrs Jehangir.

The actress has alleged that the video shoot was done at a knife point. She has dumped the boy as a ‘dirty part of her past life’ and announced proudly that she was looking for her perfect match while singing the hindi song- kahin karta hoga wo mera intezar…..However, her allegations against the youth appeared to be not holding much substance given the mood she was in, in the pictures and video clippings.

But anyway, given the wide coverage and telecast of the entire episode she has got the benefit. As she claimed her role in the TV serial Pratigya has been extended now and that she has got some offers from others too.

Muslim community is divided into two groups- an organization denouncing the act of the duo and ostracizing them from society as they had live-in relationship barred completely in Islam but certain others underlining the provision of punishment for the duo as per Shariat and not agreeing to the Fatwa for ostracizing them. However, there is common view between the two groups that the duo breached the tenets of Islam. Let's see what comes next in the series.....