Positively (in all connotations of the word) shocked by BBC News

A while ago I read Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. I was fascinated by the book, the author and the country which he so vividly described, India. The former convict relates a story that is as revealing about his own life and the complex nature of his character, as of the many faceted and in many ways incomprehensibly diversified country, home to 1.2 billion people.

One of the most intriguing passages of the book is about his time living in the slums of Bombay, describing how people, regardless of ethnic, religious and other differences, look out for each other.

One particular event gives an account of a firestorm, threatening both people and the ramshackle sheds in which they reside. The description of how some individuals take charge, organize the necessary steps to put the fire out and to rescue people, disregarding the peril they put themselves in, is captivating. It sounds almost too selfless, too altruistic to be true, in a loosely organized society, where people are deprived of almost all the basics that we consider fundamental to “civilized” life and behavior; education, steady jobs, health care…

And then, yesterday, on BBC news, I heard about a fire in a Calcutta hospital...


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