You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

I always believed in the above words of Mahatma Gandhi; but not anymore! Just a slip and the resultant fall was enough for me to teach me a tough lesson - never slip and fall! If you do, then do not expect any help!

Being a food blogger, an invitation from a popular TV channel to join their upcoming Tamil New Year day celebration was enough for me to rush to the studio. Not for a moment did I ponder that they were inviting me at the last hour and that they were just trying to fill their gallery! There I was excitedly hopping into a call taxi not heeding to my family’s concern about the proper lack of communication by the TV channel. I was delirious in my excitement as the taxi crawled through heavy traffic towards the remote corner of the city, to the studio.

Thankfully after a few calls to the mono-syllabled staff, we reached the destination. I ran past the gate to reach the spot fearing the loss of my TV appearance (!) in case of my delay. To my dismay there was no lift and I literally flew through the 3 levels of steps! I victoriously jumped out of the lift and hastened to reach a group of so-called bigwigs of the cookery shows - at the end of the corridor, the group was clicking selfies, in the backdrop of the TV channel logo.

Alas, my weight and age refused to cooperate anymore with this top speed and I fell flat on my face! And what an excruciating pain it was as my forehead hit the floor! Instinctively I looked across at the group for help and the huge thud made all of them looked at me. But that was just for a fraction of a second as the selfie photo shoot continued relentlessly with not a glance towards me after that! Totally shaken up and embarrassed with my fall I painstakingly got up. My mind kept asking, why was nobody helping me? However, the day was a successful one as I did participate in the program and interacted with the same group which had conveniently ignored me earlier. But it was my strength of mind that saw me through the painful moment- otherwise there is no humanity left in this world.

Selfishness is the thumbnail and weak people have no place in this world. I am seriously concerned about the general apathy in people. Not a single person in the group bothered to help. Whatever happened to the morals learned in school? To say that on a daily basis you can make a difference, well, you can. One act of kindness a day can do it. Or, are the lessons taught today different?

It so happened that my fall was not fatal. But what if my head injury had been serious? I would have succumbed to my injury. But who cares! Photo sessions and selfies are the order of the day. Everyone is oblivious to a fellow human being’s pain. Let us try to teach generosity and altruism because we are all born selfish. Basic courtesy needs to be taught, I suppose! But I doubt if it’s possible because selfishness has become deep rooted. The social media is driving people crazy, me included.

How I wish I had thought twice before going to a last minute invitation. It would have saved me from my fall (downfall!) and from the shocking revelations. Even as I pen my thoughts I am deeply concerned about the future of senior citizens. The indifference I faced makes me bitter but determined to never fall again. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others’?