Be more human, Be more Indian

We all must have gone through the history of Colonial India where the phrase “Dogs and Indians not allowed” was common to see on government buildings and other public places.  When I read this for the first time, in junior class, I could not synthesize the fact that Indians were treated in this manner in their own country. I did hurt to imagine myself standing in front of a railway coach but unable to enter it or going to because I was an Indian. I am sure it must have affected minds of many of us in a similar manner. But did we as a nation learn anything from that?

Recently we celebrated our 70^th Independence day and the same question was put before us, independence from whom and independence of what? Each year I see people flooding social media with their short lived patriotism. But the real independence and sense of patriotism lies in, to start with, learning to be considerate towards fellow citizens.

I don’t mean to talk of high and hefty ideals. This thought struck me when I saw a handicapped person struggling to cross the road with his wheelchair. He was on the other side of the road and it would him 5 minutes of failed attempt before he had to ask someone to help him to get off the pavement which was perhaps 6 inches high. As he got down the struggle continued. Though the light turned red, zebra crossing was covered with vehicles, pushing that person to cross the road facing the traffic heading towards him. He managed he reach the other end of the road but he was unable to find a platform to get on the pavement and he had to rush to a corner in order to save him from the vehicles which were coming racing towards him.

I rushed to him and helped him to get on the footpath. We were going in the same direction so I decided to take a walk with him. The uneven footpath was making it hard for him to move  and it made me ask him how difficult it is for him to move around? That guy was in his late 20s but he is dependent on people around for almost every activity once he steps out of his house. As we went pass an ATM he told me that he has never been to an ATM on his own. He has to ask people to help him get in and that makes him feel vulnerable with cash in his hand. He faces issues with something as basic as boarding a bus.

This stroll made me realise things that I might have never realised. We don’t find “Dogs and Indians not allowed” anymore but the available infrastructure do make the people with disability to feel the discrimination that used to prevail before independence. The issue is graver because in the past 69 independent years we as a country could not be thoughtful enough to make India accessible for people with disability. In fact we have failed to provide the basic constitutional right of Right to Equality as something as fundamental as ease of movement has been kept away.
                              

However, recently launched Accessible India Campaign is a welcome step and it should be helpful in the long run. But India is such a big nation that any campaign would take a really long time to be effective. Further, it is insensitive if we keep waiting for the authorities to do all the work while keeping our humanity at bay. Standing behind the zebra crossing and being helpful without waiting for someone to ask are some of the things that we can do on individual basis. Let us be more human, let us be more Indian.