Ms. S

Right from the time she studied tenth standard, I have known her through my mom, who was her math teacher. Ms. S was consistently a bright student and was also one of my mom’s all time favorite student. Hailing from a poor family, she was determined to do well and almost always topped her class in the Government Higher Secondary school. My mom had big dreams for her and Ms. S was well on the way to achieving each of those shared ambitions. For starters, she became the first graduate in her entire family by successfully completing the Bachelor of Science in Mathematics course. Having got the confidence of completing a degree, Ms. S was motivated to become a teacher and this aspiration led her to join the teacher s training course. Being a person who loved her independence, she had no intentions of burdening her family any further and hence wanted to stand on her own legs. She helped my mom in taking tuition classes and eventually took over the responsibility of teaching the children. 

The student had finally become a teacher.

Always wanting to improve herself, Ms. S felt that her command over English was not enough to make her a good teacher. She enrolled for a spoken English class and was steadily on the way to becoming a good teacher with improved speaking skills. Her family as well as everyone around her was proud of her growth.

It was a November evening in Chennai and the monsoon rains were not in a mood to abate any sooner. Ms. S braved the rains to attend her spoken English class. Little did she, or for that matter anybody else think that it would be her last class - whether as a student or as a teacher. The news of her demise was shocking to say the least, but more than that, it was strange. According to reliable sources, the death of Ms. S has been attributed to head injury and suffocation. It is believed that she fell into an open drain and hit her head while doing so. I presume that she lost consciousness immediately and the overflowing drain water would have been sufficient to choke her and suffocate her to death. I am convinced that there was no foul play, however I believe that at-least one person is guilty. Not guilty of murder, but guilty of not saving a life in danger. Let me tell you why. 

The place where the incident took place was a busy market area in Chennai and I am pretty sure that there were a handful of people in that road during the time of the incident. For all I might know, there may have even been one or two buses plying on that road. Given this scenario, I am pretty sure at least one person would have seen her falling into the hole. The person could have been on the road or perhaps a passenger sitting by the window on a bus. Maybe the person felt too lazy to walk out in the rain and lend a helping hand. Perhaps, he/she thought that it was not their business or was scared to be answering questions to the police if there were any problems. Whatever the case, now a precious life has been lost.

This incident has led me in taking up a personal oath. I decided that I would never think for a moment before saving someone in danger. I have already done it once and almost lost my life, but that is not going to stop me. May her soul rest in peace.

PS: This is a true incident and the case detailed here is pending police enquiry as on date. Thanks to  http://anecdotesofananth.blogspot.in/  for the constant goading that resulted in the final materialization of this post.