Humiliation is something inevitable. We all acknowledge and dread it with equal fervence.
An accident, a young blood on his bike and a frail old rickshaw-puller... what do we imagine? No, no one was hurt physically, but one of them was grieved, some saw that on his face, some pitied him, some helped him to gain composure, others watched him, still others stood still trying to get the whiff of the matter which they had not witnessed completely, and somebody like me let loose the imagination.
What nobody fathomed was the degree of grief on that tired old face. In that rush hour, that rush of adrenaline, that rush of thoughtless insanity, that slight pinch of lurking fear of what answer, the young blood would make up for that accident which could have gone awry, the young hot blood slapped and slapped that poor face only to echo the merciless sounds.
Those slaps resounded with the pain of the old face. He was trying to earn a living, when most people in their twilight years want to sit back and reminisce the time that went by, he was trying to earn a living.
The hot blood was just stepping into life, whatever happened to the age old belief of respecting elders... don't know. Would he ever realise what he had done to that old man...don't know.
Humiliation stems because we all have an ego. Ego keeps us from begging, grovelling and yes to some extent preserving our integrity (though too much of anything is bad for health!). When we have an ego, then why do we forget that other people, cutting across borders, castes, colours, creeds, status, and ages also have egos. Why do we have to forget that?
That frail face could not turn to anyone, and why, he could not even look up at anyone. May be he was not new to beatings by strangers, but perhaps was new to slaps from someone of the age of his grandson !! I am imagining things ... it is a false world for sure.