I was coming home from work & luckily got the city bus. I jumped in quickly as it was about to begin it’s ride. I occupied the second seat from the front gate. The very front seat is reserved for handicaps & senior citizens. The driver ignited the engine and the journey began. Few minutes later I saw an old man coming from back, he got in after me; he came shouting on the young man who occupied himself on the seat which was reserved for handicaps & senior citizens, the old man was handicapped as well, I noticed while he was walking in the front. His voice was sharp; he started complaining to the young man for getting himself occupied at the place which was reserved for people like him. The young man immediately got up & tried to offer him the seat. The bus was crowded by now. The old man was not convinced; his point was that even though it was clearly mentioned on the seat that it’s reserved then why he sat at that place? I was shocked with this complain of the old man as I remembered that I and that boy we boarded the bus almost together and there were only two seats available then, if he would have got before me then of course I would have sat at the place where he was now. People around were also not able to get the old man’s point. The young man in his favor argued that he understands that the seat is reserved one but since there was no candidate to occupy it, he preferred to get it for himself. He added that now that you acknowledged me about your right to get that seat I’m not denying you to get your seat, and that until someone specifies how could he ever come to know if there is any handicap person in the bus or not. His point was sounding valid to almost all of us. But old man was not ready to accept it. He was angrier for the young man arguing in spite of being wrong (according to him). The driver, conductor and few people standing nearby all were convincing the old man to sit down and that the young man isn’t at fault as much as he’s trying to prove. The driver also cleared that if no one is present the normal commuters can sit on the seat. The old man refused to sit, the young man was also high on his temper by now and he sort of gave the last call to the old man to sit or else he’ll sit back. The old man refused & the young man murmuring in his mouth for the old man not trying to understand things and just wasting time & energy of his and others sat on the seat. The old man kept standing. I thought of offering my seat to the old man but hesitated.
In all this what I felt was that of course the old man should have got convinced and as the young man was ready to give him the seat, without taking much pains he should have taken it. For young man he should have left it vacant but sitting back was not much modest of him.
Finally my stop came and I got down then I noticed that old man got down immediately after me, his leg got some problem, as he was stretching it after getting down and there was pain on his face.
I really don’t understand why people end up messing things like this? Where the point is clear they keep proving themselves for some reason which no one can understand. I agree that he was old, handicapped but then one should not try to over ride others in the name of sympathy!
One should always have a good understanding, it would be better for them as well as for people around.
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