Disturbia
It’s a wonderful day, the last day of the year and I was eagerly looking forward to the first new year in Singapore with my family. I was extra happy to leave for office this morning, being a half day on new years eve.
But here comes the spoiler. As i entered the train, i saw one young chinese woman with a very small kid in hand STANDING near the door in front of the priority seat. I was amazed and eager to see who has more priority to sit in the seat if this woman does not. To my shock and dismay i found a young local sitting and doing the “sleep act”. He looked up and saw the woman with the kid and then just continued. I was petrified.
Yes. Curse me all you want. I didnt have the balls to ask him to offer the seat but an Indian woman nearby called him and requested him. The guy was ignoring the first couple of requests and when the Indian woman touched him gently and asked him, the guy was “CANT YOU SEE THAT I AM A LITTLE BUSY”. WHAT the hell??? BUSY? really? For God’s sake he is sleeping on a freaking priority seat. I thought the woman had the right to be seated. The North-East line just went a little further to mark the seat as “Reserved Seat” just so that these morons be a little more sensible. I was so shocked and couldnt even read a single line out of my book after that wondering “can somebody be this rude?”.
I can’t now help think of my middle aged aunt in India who underwent uterus removal 5 years ago. Post-surgery she got a tummy which gave her the “pregnant look”. She used to joke telling that everytime she got into a bus she was offered a seat. If you are not aware, Indian buses are jam packed. She also used to say that she gently refuses the offer (and sometimes even shout if they still insist).
I am definitely not blaming the entire singaporean community. I have seen very generous and wonderful human beings here. I have seen middle-aged women offer seats to my wife even when we had our kid on a pram. I have seen lots of young girls and guys promptly offer seats to the elderly. But there are the sleepers too.. who simply cannot be woken up.
I just hope that the discourteous few prevent the contagious coma from spreading. (And i just hope that i can sleep tonight without feeling guilty that i didn’t do anything about it)
