Rules vs. Humanity

''It was a cold wintery desert night. As we sped in our project jeep towards the village that I intended to work from for the next few days, our only guiding lights were the headlights since the villages in that area were yet not equiped with electricity. Suddenly from the dark emerged a man and hailed the jeep for a ride. As the driver slowed down, my heartbeat accelerated out of fear. Catching my look of incredulity, he smiled his rustic grin, and said what I was never to forget'' ghabraiye nahin, yeh shahr nahin hai (don't worry madam, this is not your city)'' and stopped the vehicle for the new traveller.

This, as I observed over the next few days, was an unspoken rule of the desert where for miles stretched nothing but the endless desert. Where the only landmarks or road signs were cactii or boulders differentiated by their shapes. Where a person would just spot the familiar cactus, get off the vehicle and dissapear into the desert as if by magic. There were no beaten tracks to follow. Here no traveller was ever refused a ride for otherwise he would have to travel for hours on foot to his destination. I often found myself sandwiched between grateful toothless grins, huge moustaches, tinkling bangles and shy glances but the aftertaste was always ''nice''. The human spirit, even without words, touches in a way that nothing else can. I never objected to his stopping the vehicle again, I had understood the unspoken law of the desert''.

This was six to seven years back, submerged in my subconcious as a memory...then why did I suddenly remember it now? An incident lately recalled it.

I was on a vacation to Rome a few days back. The hotel had arranged for a shuttle from the city centre as the hotel was not very well connected by public transport. It was late that day, and it was the last shuttle for the day. All the seats were occupied. No sooner had we started that we saw a guest from the hotel running after the bus. The driver saw him but didnot stop. The breathless boy managed to catch up at a traffic light, and pleaded to be allowed in since he had an early moring flight to catch. The driver did not permit it. 'Rules are rules', he said. 'You are late and also the seats are occupied'. The lights changed and we moved forward. As I turned to see that guy being left behind, standing amidst the moving traffic, I saw his expression..dismay, desperation, and something else...I shudderd to think if I would have been in his place. From where I saw it anybody would have been happy to share a seat with him, he was a guest at the same hotel after all...and yet ''Rules were rules, seats could not be shared''.

Suddenly I remembered my desert experience...no formal ''rules''.. just pure ''humanity''...Two extremes. I wondered if we will ever be able to strike a healthy steady balance between the two?