K. SILADASS

THE BULLY AND A STRANGER

by

K. Siladass

Those who are self-opinionated and belief that their brutish vocabulary could save them from embarrassment would never learn.

I heard this snippet long time ago. A chap who habitually sat at a corner of a busy street, rebuked, abused, and threatened everyone who passed bywithout dropping few coins in his bowl. The town folks simply tolerated his threats and abuses. He was a beggar. One day a stranger to the town happened to pass by this beggar, who, noticing that he had ignored his presence and had not dropped any coin started to hurl threats and abuses in his usual unholy language. The stranger was flabbergasted and stared at the beggar who now challenged him to a fight. The stranger was angry, he walked up to the beggar and said: “Ok. You want a fight… get up and like a man and fight with me, you scoundrel.” The beggar was quiet. He did not stand up. A local who happened to watch the entire episode, went up to the stranger and explained. “This fellow can’t stand, he has no legs. He survives by throwing threats and abuses at everyone. We ignore him because he is a disadvantaged person and moreover he is mentally deranged.” The stranger looked at the beggar and felt sorry for him. As he walked away he was heard saying our society is rich with mentally deranged persons roaming around who seem to have immense penchant to unleash vulgarity. They should be in lunatic asylum not in public places.

Once the stranger was out-of-sight, the beggar turned to the locals and said: “You see…! He’s a coward. I didn’t stand up. He got scared and escaped.

The locals just ignored him. He is irredeemable.

Dated: 16^th November 2017