yesterday.
And am feeling rotten about it.
There is a school near my gym - one of those big factory-like schools. Since the school is at a level above the road, there is a kind of a ramp-like path connecting the road to the school. The school is bounded by a wall and there is a huge metal gate manned by a security guard, set in the wall. In the morning (around 7 o'clock) when I go to the gym, I see this mad scramble by parents trying to push their little kids in through the gate. Since this is the morning session it is only the little ones who have classes at this time. On my way back (around 9.45), there is another wave of little ones scrambling to get in. As it happens, near all schools, there are the usual 'shops' selling crisps and all kinds of other not-good-for-children-but-which-they-love snacks. There are also the ubiquitous chai (tea) shacks where parents catch their breath after the mad getting-their-children-into-the-school-gate rush. This is also the time when they discus their children's teachers and talk about all that is happening in school - comparing, dissecting, cribbing, praising, pontificating...
The rule is that as soon as it is a particular time, the gate will shut. After that noone but noone can go in. I've seen parents push their kids in through the last little gap in the closing gate and throw their school bags over. Or, in some cases, throw a bag of crisps and biscuits over, shouting out to the security guard to let their children pick it up. It's monstrous what happens. There is a teacher or there may be a couple of teachers who stand inside the gate but they just stand there looking on.
Yesterday, I was witness to this very sad and disturbing sight. As the gate started to close, a scooter came in fast with a tiny little girl all spruced and shining standing in the front. The father, seeing the gate close, pushed the girl off the scooter and grabbed her satchel, simultaneously putting the scooter on the stand. He shouted to the guard to hang on for just a minute. Mind you the gate were closing slowly and the guard was looking at them, but he didn't either help the father or pull the child in or hold the gate. Just as the father reached the gate the last gap closed and he was left outside. The little girl was standing and looking with big eyes at her Dad. The father shouted and begged and pleaded to no avail. Thing is it's been raining here and in some parts of the city, one rain is enough to flood the whole area. This man and his family probably live in one such area that was flooded. So to get out of the house and get his kid onto the scooter without the child getting very wet, possibly took time. Maneuvering through the flooded roads also would not have been easy. The man was trying to tell the guard all this - he was pleading with the teachers too...in vain. The gate remained ominously shut.
I was walking back from the gym when I saw this happening. I stood near the scooter for a while and then moved a bit and again stood watching and hoping and praying the guard would allow the little one in. I saw the distress on the child's face - seeing her father like that couldn't have been good for her. I walked slowly down the road, and kept looking back. Did this till the end of the road. But, and here's the thing - I should have gone to the child. I could have stood by the scooter and been a support for the little one. I didn't do it. There were many parents standing around. If they had all got together they may have been able to do something. At least someone could have pushed the child in through the gate and the satchel could have been thrown over the gate. But noone moved. Was I scared of the parents who were looking on, fearing a mob mentality? Was I afraid of helping seeing as of late whenever anyone protests they get beaten up by bystanders? All I know is that I was distressed beyond measure and cursed myself for not standing there - I could have done that...just showed a silent solidarity in the face of this kind of inhuman-ness. So is it that while I can talk about how callous the school system is, discus how terribly children are treated in our schools, and argue and debate a whole lot of other child-related issues, I could not do this one simple thing of standing by?
But I will never do this again, if Life gives me another chance. Words are necessary, yes, but actions are more necessary. As my DD told me, if they had not accepted my help, fine, but at least I could have shown them that someone cared. I had to be there, in that place, to show them I cared, not walk away feeling miserable and devastated by that terribly distressing sight. There are excuses and reasonings aplenty but not one will hold in the face of that little girl's heartbreak at not being able to get inside the school and her father's distress...(God help her if there was a test scheduled for that day...because she would, in all probability, be given a zero, seeing as how inhuman the school is).