Prejudice and its Pitfall

Though prejudice is and most unpardonable bane we continue to endorse it, often to find ourselves proved wrong.

Am myself an anti-prejudice flag bearer or so I thought until…

…my beloved car met with an accident, all due to the stupid mistake of a white monster-car on my left. In an attempt to avoid collision from the fast swallowing mouth I swiveled my car toward right only to bang onto a divider, and by the time I could figure out what happened, the monster escaped unscathed.

As I took stock of the damage, fumes from the tyre & heat from the closing crowd left me dizzy. Something was wrong by the look of their expressions & than I saw him.

The biker was pointing finger at me & garnering the undeserved sympathy, but wait a minute what was going on? I was utterly confused.

My safety antenna went up & in no second I locked myself in the car.

The car started but wont budge…oh *%#$, of course the busted tyre, I was stuck & could no longer ignore the biker, who stood at my car window, peering down at me & mouthing stupidity. I say stupidity because apparently he was under the delusion of being struck by my car & wanted compensation.

“Whoa, whoa, it’s my car which has got damaged, where did you & your bike come from”, I demanded.

“It got damaged when you suddenly decided to turn right, (pause) madam!” I didn’t like the tone in which he added madam in the end.

I eyed the bike & his arm, just a minuscule scratch, on both prized possessions of the opportunist. I gave him an evil stare & looked at the thinning crowd, someone had called the police & they were ordering them to get back to their own business.

As the officer approached, his grin turned to groan and he sat down on the pavement crying. My heart-beat reached a crescendo, the police & an opportunist, perfect combo.

He swaggered towards us & listened to the biker’s tale, I flicked down my window just enough to let his voice trail in. Tale it was, alright. The officer asked my side of the events & stood thoughtfully.

Look, you’ll have to pay him something; it’s best to close the case here than to carry it forward, amicable conciliation is what he called it.

Okay, how much? (My mind was doing a quick calculation of the cash in my wallet. God knew how much I’ll be swamped off)

100Rs he said & I looked at him with disbelief.

“How much for you, sir” I said. (Now he’ll tell me the real deal, I was sure)

He ignored my last sentence & asked me to give just the 100Rs. He took the biker aside & handed him the money who zipped off after some protestation.

Call a mechanic & go home, he told me to which I asked him again lest he had not heard me before. He gave me a long sad look & said, not all police people are same madam.

With that, he was gone…so was my prejudice.