“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion.”
-Abraham
Lincoln
Sometimes
back I posted the above quote in my FB page and one of my FB friends retorted back:
what is good? Since
then I have been mulling over the idea to chronicle a few examples and today I feel
had the opportunity to do one such deed, hence the documentation. Here are the
details:
Our housing society has a salon for hair
cutting etc. One of our support staff has taken that space on rent and in turn
has engaged a barber to run the show. The commercial premises is a self
contained unit where besides an outer room there is an inner room where the
resident barber- here after Salon pro- maintains a family. As water and electricity facility is available
24x7 and people can make their own elementary provisions for cooking, for a small family it’s
kind of OK.
The
present Salon pro, who is running the show, has big aspirations! He often asks his customers, who primarily come for a hair cut, to do this
facial or that treatment to make some extra bucks. He charges a competitive amount for
the services he provides. Like many other successful businessmen in India he is
apparently a misogynist and a high-handed person. The
very first time I noticed him with his family I was discomforted when I saw him
rudely bolting the inner room from the outside, which is connected to the outer
room, which is the salon.
Today-
a Sunday- I had been to the salon, in the morning, to have my hair cut along
with my brother. After he cut the hair of my brother my turn came. The other chair was already occupied by
another customer whom one of his assistants was attending. Then I saw the same spectacle repeating again.
While his wife being inside he bolted the door from outside. For quite some
time I remained quite but then I could not bottle-up my anxiety any further.
I
asked the Salon pro: ‘Is there a door behind that room’.
He
said: ‘yes, but that is closed permanently’, which I subsequently was a blatant lie.
Then
I said: ‘why do you keep your wife locked’?
Sheepishly
he said: ‘it’s convenient that way’.
I
said: it’s a kind of ill-treatment towards a woman!
He
replied: ‘I have a kid’
I
said: ‘in that case the door can be closed from inside’
He
didn’t say anything and continued to cut my hair. I threatened to report this
to the president of the society. As I am also a member of the management
committee, which he knows, he couldn’t take this lightly. I
further reasoned: ‘On this 8 March 2014 we celebrated the International women’s
day for the first time in our society. What is the point of doing so if we
treat women so shabbily in our private life?
Again I threatened that, if he did
not amend his ways I would very certainly report the event to the committee. My
reasoning definitely found a deaf ear but nevertheless the Salon pro advised his assistant : 'open the door and tell your Bhauja (sister- in -law) to bolt it from
inside'.
His
behavior towards me changed afterwards. His hair-cutting became a bit rough and he wore a sullen
face. Though I was also boiling inside for such indiscretion, I kept quite. However, when I came out of the salon, after
paying the service charges, I felt good. I guess I did a good thing. :) Did I?
It
was quite unlike the helplessness that I had experienced last time when I saw
one of our fellow residents ill-treating their grossly minor servant and yet I
could not do anything. When I spoke to our president he also advised caution as
it involved another resident. But I feel when I come across such a situation
next I would find a fitting way to discharge my civic duties and bring justice
to a hapless child.
