Doctor, now might be a good time for you to get angry

Authors note : This is definitely a personal rant. There will be bad words, bad thoughts and bad intentions. Proceed with caution.

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Many a time I write about hope in tough circumstances. This post isn't one of them. 

I live in an area filled with bas***ds. Strong words ? Don't worry. You'll agree with me long before this post is over.

Nearly a decade ago, there had been a watchman in our house who lived in our neighbourhood. One night, we were awakened by the sound of Ruby barking furiously. It was 2 am and she wasn't usually prone to such outbursts. Besides, the watchman was outside every night so it couldn't have been a burglar. Yet, when we finally got up and checked outside, we couldn't find him. Our gate was unlocked and he wasn't there. We didn't think much of it at that moment. Early the next morning, we got the news that the shopping store we owned nearby had been robbed. There was no sign of forced entry - the only keys had been with the watchman. He initially claimed he was sleeping at home all night and had never left. He had not known that on that early morning, we had gotten up due to Ruby's barks. On further questioning, he admitted to robbing the store with his friends and fell down on his knees, begging my parents not to send him to jail as his wife and kids would be destroyed. The biggest mistake my parents ever made was to fall for that line. Time has proven that very well. From that day when he was let go, today he sits in our neighbourhood with the same bastards who robbed us, taunting my dad in his old age and getting local rowdies to harass my parents. 

What are you going to do about it?

Over the last few years, robberies have become so commonplace in our neighbourhood that noone even bothers to report it anymore. A state of apathy has long set in. All of us, our neighbours included, have been woken up at odd times in the night by others alerting us that a robber ran through our/their yards while escaping. As of last week, these same ch***yas have started harassing parents of girls getting married demanding cash NOT TO come to the wedding. Sounds so filmy, and yet it's happening in 'Gods Own Country'.

The watchman is not alone in being an item, of course. Another old hag, over the years, has often thrown varied objects into our yard. Not so bad, you say ? Ya, well, it's the stuff she throws that makes it interesting. So far, I've seen cats skulls, chicken heads, coins, talismans - all smeared in red /grey ash and covered in regular paper. Apparently, she has a thing for black magic. Either that, or she has some weird recipes. Again, no inciting incident. She just feels it's a good old age hobby, I guess. We have never even stepped into her house in two decades. The only time we have talked to her is when we caught her doing it - and she just smirked and walked away. We still get our monthly dose of animal heads.      

What are you going to do about it?

Last year, my parents and I made the same mistake again - we let a criminal go. A person who sat on our floor and begged for hours not to turn him in when we caught him red-handed. As usual, history proved that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. In the days since that day, a quotation group ( that's like a local version of a 'contract killer' group ) was sent after my 70 year old father and myself. That comedy ended once the police warned Mr Quotation that they had their eye on him, given his previous track record in the city. Ironically, a few months later, he reached where he was supposed to send me and my dad.

As for his master, we have recorded videos of him walking house to house, offering bribes to people to spread lies about us. He went around , enquiring who our family's decades old enemies were and individually went to each of their houses as though it were his pilgrimage. 

I've watched him spread the cheapest and most degrading rumours against each member of my family. Unknown to the idiot, I have recorded confessions of him admitting his guilt to me and my parents. There are videos of the neighbours and people he's visited admitting they were offered money to spread stories against the family. Videos. Audios. The whole package. 

Those who have heard/seen the videos have got a pretty good idea of the characters and games that have been played. 

Apparently, the theme of the party is 'spoil their names so that noone believes them'.  

The same neighbours who, decades ago, kept coming over to our house because my father could help them get an entry into 'the Gelf' now cannot spare a second to walk by, since my dad is no longer the golden goose with any contacts back at his old workplace. More than 40 families gained entry and access to a life abroad because he paid for their expenses and got them there. Today, only 2 see fit to even visit him in his final years. That, by itself, is sad. But when these same families then accept bribes from the next guy to destroy our name, what other term can you use to describe them than the b-word?

I was reminded of this because of an incident which was an exception rather than the norm. I was contacted last week online by a man asking if I was 'the son of so-and-so, who used to once work at XYZ. He claimed that he had been hunting for my dad since 1982 and just wondered if perhaps I was his son'. I emailed that indeed I was and gave him my father's contact number. An hour later, at 7 am Indian time ( 5.30 am in the Gulf where the man stayed ) he called my dad. My dad later informed us that the man burst into tears while talking to my father. The man emailed me a few minutes after the call.
This was the email :
"Dear Roshan,
I am very happy after hearing the lovely voice of Radha atten. He has recollected every thing after few seconds. When I lost my job in 1982 from XYZ ,Radhakrishnan chaetten , the only person helped me to get this job in ABC where I have been working for 30 years. I couldnt find him after that. Thank god for giving a chance to reunite with him. Me and my family have always been thankful to Radhakrishnan chaetten and always prayed for him. Because he took a lot of trouble for me, my family is alive today."

Having heard every cheap slander being said against him and us for awhile now just because we refused to stoop to such extremes and be a part of a criminal's activities, it feels genuinely weird to see this emotion - gratitude. A gratitude from 30 years ago. Especially when you are living in a land where people openly admit to taking money to slander you and you have a public that happily enjoys this. But it's hardly enough.

The problem with not fighting back is that you will come across uncultured bastards like this who will try to screw you over. And I don't mean it just at a personal level. Increasingly, this year we've been seeing some really sad crimes - public molestations, riots, rapes, driving victims to suicide - where the culprits are actually flaunting their identity. They don't care. They are sure they can get away with it. I was really sad to hear that another colleague of mine who, like me, tends to be a pacifist, was embroiled in a similar situation.   

Personally, I didn't intend to follow in my dads pacifist attitude initially. Why would I, when the evidence I have is lawyer-proof and more concrete than any rumours ?

But then, I keep thinking - why bother ? Those who know me and my family would realise there's too much masala in these stories to match the family: that this is a lie. For those who bothered to enquire, overwhelming evidence was available at a click of a button. For those snippy old post-menopausal b****es who once took gifts from our house and now shifted over to the next highest bidder and prefer to spread rumors because its more juicy, well - big whoop. Atleast prostitutes take cash only for a living. Speaks more about their culture than mine. 
Besides, I sure I'm better off without their presence in my life.  I save lives everyday. I do it for free, I do it 24 hours a day without a break and I make the people who entrust their lives in my hands smile the whole time they're with me. That is my victory - that the people who know me know who I am... words from strangers don't mean crap to me. If they didn't make me, how can they break me ?

Again though, the question arises - "What are you going to do about it?"
The thing is, you have to be really careful while flaunting your crimes - sometimes, you really don't want to keep poking an animal, especially when you aren't sure what the animal knows. 
I found a good parallel for my family's sense of resignation : albeit filmy, I see it as akin to the weariness of a constantly harassed and intimidated Dr Banner who's doing everything in his control not to get angry.
Especially these lines before he does finally give in.

Captain America : Doctor Banner, I think now might be a good time for you to get angry.


Bruce Banner : That's my secret, Cap: I'm always angry.