WHO TO BLAME? THEN?

It was around ten in the night. I received a Whats app voice note from one of my friends, which was forwarded by another friend of mine, which carried that sorrowful news. The actual sender had already sent the same voice note three hours ago in that painful night. I listened to it. It was already eleven. I didn’t hesitate to call him.

“Who was the guy? How it happened?” I asked even after knowing the news.

“We may not know him. But, our close friends have kept in touch with him. In fact, he worked some years ago in that company where I worked few months ago.” He said and continued,

“Even media failed to cover the issue.”

 “What was he doing actually?”

“I don’t know exactly, seeking for job I think.”

I sustained my silence.

“Another incident took place to a girl. But, it was some months ago. Unfortunately, I was not aware of properly. Hence, I couldn’t inform anything about that.” He said.

“Was he keeping cane with him?”

“Yes, he had.”

“Nobody bothered to rescue him?”

“It would not have happened if they had tried.”

“Even last week we made the same mistake. But, we were little conscious.” I said and asked.

“Is he partially blind?”

“Nope, he’s totally blind.” He replied.

“How is it possible then?”

“He recently became blind it seems. Perhaps, it would have let him misjudge the movement.”

We discussed some other issues and disconnected the call in the night.

Last Saturday, when I went for my convocation, I met one of our professors and interrogated the same incident. She thought for a while and admitted promptly.

“Yes, I read it in the newspaper. Do you know him? Was he our student?”

“Oh! Did media cover it?” I asked myself and replied her,

“No ma’am, he’s not our student. But, he’s very much familiar with some of our student.”

“I thought it was some seller.” Another guy interrupted and proceeded further,

“I was just crossing that spot. Usually some sellers would shift from compartment to compartment. I thought it must have happened for him. But, this incident, they could have definitely avoided it.”

“Our vendors are courageous. They used to be very careful.” I replied.

I was checking with social media and Websites regarding this but, couldn’t find any news about the incident. I recollected the voice note again. But, it sounded incomplete. I wanted to play it and I played it.

“Dear friends, kindly listen to this voice note. I feel sorry to inform you that one of our visually challenged persons was deceased in an accident yesterday. I deeply register my regrets on this unfortunate happening. This incident (accident) took place on 14/September/2017 that is yesterday in Guindy railway station. The victim was waiting for the train to arrive. Erroneously, he board in a lady's compartment as the train came. Suddenly, some lady passengers who were inside the compartment started yelling at him for his wrong entry. The visually challenged victim was literally startled and aware of his mistake. Without any delay, he determined to get down the compartment. Unfortunately, the train started moving which he must have failed to sense. He mustered his courage and got down the train. But, he slipped completely and fell in the track and lost his life. As we are numerically very limited in this country, people don’t have sufficient knowledge about us I reckon. It would have been fine if the lady passengers had prevented him from leaving the train. Nonetheless, the life of a poor visually challenged came to an end. We shall pray for his family and for his soul to rest in peace. Thank you.” He even requested the other people to treat visually challenged people with respect and concern.

Today, I received another voice note from another visually challenged sender. I played it, which contained the same story. But, he added another possibility.

“Even I have mistakenly got in to lady’s compartment sometimes. But, none of them forced me to get down immediately. In fact, they had stopped me when I attempted to get down after realizing my fault.” The voice note continued. “Usually, I’ve experienced, some railway employees who work in Guindy railway station don’t treat us with respect. I was told that the visually challenged passenger got into the lady’s compartment unwittingly. All of a sudden, one of the railway employees, who were on duty at that time, dragged him from the compartment. The visually challenged passenger lost his balance and slumped in the track and the train ran over him. As I was not on the spot, I can’t share the actual cause of his demise. But, the saddest thing was that no media came forward to take up and cover this serious issue. Had media covered with at most care, the truth and awareness would have knocked at the minds of this society at least to some extent. It would have been an accident if he had illegally crossed the track. But, the life has been fallen a prey either by the lack of awareness or by the aggression of a railway employee towards a visually challenged passenger. Even the silence of this visually challenged society adds misery to this unfortunate incident. Thank you.”

I was penning this article for the last one week to post in this Blog. But, I couldn’t find the actual cause of his death and pending it. Moreover, the voice of my heart doesn’t want to blame anybody without knowing the fact. As a visually challenged Blogger, I bemoan for his death and confess to each and every visually challenged Indian for delaying the post.

To conclude, the voice of my heart neither blames the visually challenged passenger, nor the lady passengers nor the railway employee for the unfortunate death as they can’t be the source of this incident.

Who to blame? then?