Appearances

Hi
The other day I happened to go to my local lending library (FYI I can't go through the day without reading something new). It happens to be situated opposite a bank. I saw a havaldar go into the library. I assumed that he had gone in to get some change or directions. Wrong assumption. He happened to be returning a book written by Taslima Nasrin, in English. On looking at the book, I further assumed that he must have gotten it for his superiors, (next time, vrinda, never assume). No, he wasn't. He was browsing around for more of the same in the library and was asking very knowingly for more writings by the same author and also some more by other authors.

Now the first thing that comes to mind when u think of Bombay police is pot bellied, uncouth, semi literate roughnecks. But this havaldar was pretty articulate and knew exactly what he was doing. He was not potbellied, but looked very fit. He wasn't uncouth. On the contrary, he was very soft spoken and well mannered. And he certainly wasn't semi literate. He wasn't even reading the regular guy fiction of Alistair Maclean, Dick Francis and the like, but the very feminist works of Taslima Nasrin.
It certainly made me pause and think. Of the many times we categorize people and pigeon hole them.
That old man, leaning on a stick and wandering aimlessly on the road in the evening, might have a fascinating life as a........secret agent maybe.
That young student who the teachers label "slow learner", may be a genius, not really interested in book learning but might be creating incredible poetry when the rest of the class is learning boring logarithms.
That young man/woman, whom we look at as the "life of the party", may be having a not so very "happy-happy" life at home......

Just a thought................