O pen up…

Hi,

This morning when I was just about to leave for office, I heard this song ‘Another Day In Paradise’ by Phil Collins. It somehow touched me maybe ‘cos I have been thinking of social service lately. The following are the lyrics of the song (it has a very nice catchy tune too): 

She calls out to the man on the street
“Sir, can you help me?
It’s cold and I’ve nowhere to sleep,
Is there somewhere you can tell me?”

He walks on, doesn’t look back
He pretends he can’t hear her
Starts to whistle as he crosses the street
Seems embarrassed to be there

Oh think twice, it’s another day for
You and me in paradise
Oh think twice, it’s just another day for you,
You and me in paradise

She calls out to the man on the street
He can see she’s been crying
She’s got blisters on the soles of her feet
Can’t walk but she’s trying

Oh think twice…

Oh lord, is there nothing more anybody can do
Oh lord, there must be something you can say

You can tell from the lines on her face
You can see that she’s been there
Probably been moved on from every place
‘Cos she didn’t fit in there

Oh think twice…

This reminded me of something I had attempted to do 3 days ago but I don’t know whether it materialised. There was this dead dog lying on my favourite road – Intermediate Ring Road. It was lying there for 5 days, still nothing was done to remove it or bury it. So I had decided to call up Yellow pages to do what I can do. They gave me the number of an organization called CUPA which takes care of dogs. When I informed them about the situation, they suggested some other number of a Municipality MO which takes care of the corpses and ended up the call saying, “Very kind of you”. Felt good but when I called up these Municipality offices, I was suggested a new number each time. I called up the Koramangala number and when I told him that the corpse was lying towards the other side of the signal, he said that area comes under the jurisdiction of Domlur and gave me a new number. I called even that number, they noted down the number but Alas nothing has been done for 2 days. But yesterday I saw it has finally been cleared dunno whether it was my call that led to the action.

Neways here are my ideas about social service. I think we need an opportunity to do it. It is probably tough to be generous when a lil’ child approaches you on the busy streets of MG Road, but if you can take the time and plan something along with your peers donating your money and services, something constructive can be done. All the same the words

He walks on, doesn’t look back
He pretends he can’t hear her
Starts to whistle as he crosses the street
Seems embarrassed to be there
do apply to me and it does embarass when you see real pain but can’t do anything. Probably a change of attitude is needed. Why not take a minute out of your precious schedule to smile at the gal and donate a 1 rupee coin?