The Bystander's Dilemma

I got a call yesterday. The man on the call said, "Sir, I have your parcel. I am standing near this Darshak tea shop. Where do I need to come from here?"

I understood. The man was unable to find my address. This was not the first time it had happened. For some reason, people often can't find my address whether it's a delivery man or my own friends. Maybe it's because my house is too far away from the main city. There are no proper roads that would take you directly to my house. One has to pass through many narrow confusing lanes in order to get to my home. Even Google Maps can't accurately locate my house, it's that well hidden from the outside world. But I enjoy living this way. It's like living in your own little bubble away from all the chaos that happens on the daily outside.

Anyway, I told this man on the call, "You wait right where you are. I'll come to you."

Then, in five minutes, I was at the location and I could see the delivery man sitting on his bike at the tea shop talking with the tea-seller. Maybe he was asking him my address, I thought. But he didn't need to bother now, I was already there. I quickly reached him and told him my name. He pulled out his phone and checked if the name matched with his database. Then he unstrapped a huge bag off his shoulders and pulling it forward he placed it on his bike. Then he unzipped the bag and started shuffling through all the parcels in it in order to find the one that belonged to me. He kept shuffling the packages for quite some time. I was starting to get annoyed. So, I started looking around here and there as I waited for him to finish searching.

I noticed it was a pleasant bright day. People were out and about on the street. Some were out for work, some to meet their friends, and some to just pass their time. There was a sweet smell of tea-leaves, ginger, and cardamom in the air. I looked to my right and there was a tea-seller serving hot masala chai to his customers. There was one customer in particular that caught my attention. He was sipping his tea standing all alone behind the tea shop instead of sitting with the other customers in front on the bench. At first, I felt bad for him but then I saw the "no-smoking" signboard at one corner of the shop and a cigarette in the man's hand. After that, I didn't feel so bad for him anymore. And I diverted my attention back to tea. The sweet aroma of the hot masala chai had by now given me a strong craving as well. So, I decided to get myself a cup too after receiving my parcel.

I looked back at the delivery man to see how much progress he had made in finding my parcel but to my disappointment, he was still searching for it in his bag. Now I was getting really annoyed. But then I thought maybe I should give him some more time. So, I patiently waited some more.

Suddenly, something on the street caught my attention. There was an auto-rickshaw standing in the middle of the road honking at two sleeping dogs that were blocking his path. They were not fully grown dogs but not small enough to be called puppies either. They were somewhere in the middle. One of them was black in colour and the other one brown. Big vehicles usually didn't come in these narrow streets. Perhaps that's why these dogs weren't moving, I thought. They were probably not used to being disturbed while sleeping in the middle of the road. The rickshaw driver honked again. The black dog got up and moved away this time but the brown one still lay unmoved. It wasn't sleeping anymore; I could tell because its head was up. It was looking around here and there trying to make sense of the commotion happening around it. The driver honked again, more aggressively this time. The dog still didn't move. The driver seemed to be getting frustrated now. He decided to slowly move his rickshaw towards the dog thinking it might scare it away. But the dog didn't budge one bit. The front wheel of the rickshaw was now only a few inches away from the dog's body. The dog looked at the wheel, then up at the driver, then down again at the wheel. Its brown little tail was wagging crazy fast.

I watching all this as an outsider thought that either this dog was incredibly stupid that didn't understand the dangers of the outside world or it was badly hurt and therefore could not move. Anyway, now I thought at least the driver would get down from his rickshaw and move the dog away himself. But the driver too seemed to be firmly holding his ground. He is probably just about to get down, I thought. Let's give him some time. Five seconds passed, then ten, then fifteen, then twenty, then twenty-five. But nothing happened. Now I started getting an uneasy feeling in my heart. The engine of the rickshaw was still roaring and the driver just wasn't getting down. I saw a flashing image in my head of what might happen next. It horrified me. No, he wouldn't do that, I told myself. No man can be that cruel. "But what if he is that cruel?" asked my conscience. He did look quite mad at the dog for not moving. Something must be done here, I thought. I looked around at other people but now suddenly the street was almost completely empty.

There were only four people at the scene now. There was of course me. Then there was the tea-seller who was not boiling tea anymore because all his customers were gone too except for one who was now sitting comfortably on a bench with a cup of chai in his hand and a cigarette in his mouth. And then there was, of course, the delivery man right there in front of me who I couldn't believe was still searching for the parcel.

I decided to ignore that fool and looked at the smoker hoping he would do something. But he just kept staring at the dog with a strange smile on his face. It didn't feel like he was going to do anything. So, I turned to the tea-seller but only to find the man looking right back at me. I reflexively turned away. And as I turned, I saw the driver slowly tightening his grip around the handlebar and I started panicking. Because now something had to be done very urgently. There wasn't much time.

Just then, suddenly, a thought appeared in my head that I should raise my hand up in the air towards the rickshaw in a gesture to stop while screaming the word "Stopppp" out loud and then walk to the dog and move it away myself.

Yes, this would be the right thing to do, I thought. I will do this, I decided.

But just then, I could feel some more thoughts slowly creeping into my head. They were the thoughts of fear and hesitation. Now, I could not help but think of all kinds of ways things could go wrong if I took some action like what if people start staring at me awkwardly? Or what if the driver gets mad at me for meddling in his business, or worse, punches me in the face? Who would pay the doctor's fee then? Or what if the dog starts barking at me as I go near it and seeing this everybody starts laughing? Or what if I am just overthinking about this whole thing and the driver won't actually do anything?

There were all kinds of possibilities that could've easily happened that day but I was also aware of the fact that there was something larger at risk here. And I could feel my conscience screaming into my gut that it's my moral obligation as a living being to protect this another living being that is in need of help.

But then there was also this another part of me that didn't want absolutely anything to do with this. It didn't want me to get involved in any unnecessary trouble that wasn't my own. It wanted for me to be able to get back home just as safely as I had walked out.

So, what must I do now? Which part of me do I listen to? I was utterly confused.

And confused I just stood there still trying to decide what I should do next when suddenly I heard a loud roar of an auto engine. Vrooom.......Vrooooooommm!!!

"Oh My God!!" I exclaimed in panic. "He's doing it!! He's doing it!! I have to act. I have to act now. Now. NOW!!!"

It was an urgent call. And I wanted to. I really wanted to. Oh! I so really wanted to. But I don't know what happened in that moment neither a voice came out of my mouth nor did my hand move up in air and I just watched in silence as the rickshaw slowly ran over that little dog right in front of my eyes. There was a loud scream as the front wheel of the rickshaw slowly crushed its bones followed by some violent spurge of blood. And then just dead silence.

The black dog tried to chase and howl after the rickshaw but there was no point now. The dog was dead and the driver had escaped quickly without even looking back.

There was a woman coming from the other side of the street who hadn't witnessed the whole scene but she did see the rickshaw crush the dog and escape. She shouted at the eloping rickshaw "You Bastard!! You killed the poor dog," to which the smoker sitting at the tea shop replied, "It was the dog's fault. The driver honked at it many times but it just didn't move. And it's just a dog, what's the big deal? They get killed on roads all the time."

"So?" asked the woman, angrily. "Don't these animals have a life or what? And would you have shown any more guts to speak up if this was a human instead?"

The smoker chose not to answer and casually looked away while breathing in his own smoke. The tea-seller started boiling his tea again as he spotted some customers approaching his direction. I looked at the delivery man. He was still searching for the parcel.