Is there hope?

I usually leave work at 7: 30 pm. I park my car (Joe) in this parking lot behind my building. It’s like a football ground. That’s the only place where there’s free parking in that area. You’ll find a lot of vehicles there from land cruisers and cars to pickups and trucks. It’s not very well lit, and you won’t find a lot of people there at night. So I try to park as close to the road as possible. This is not easy, since everyone wants to park there.

Yesterday when I got to work after lunch, I had to park somewhere in the middle of the ground, in between two trucks. And after work when I got to the parking lot I saw that my car was right in the centre, with the two aforementioned trucks on either side, a land cruiser in front and a pickup behind. How inconsiderate! What the hell was I supposed to do? There was some space to squeeze through by reversing to the right. But it would be difficult. I didn’t have a choice though. And I got into the car, went left, reversed to the right, went left again, reversed … and got stuck. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t see how far back I could go, so I had to keep getting out of the car to look. After 10 minutes, I was so frustrated that I went and kicked the tyres of the stupid pickup! That’s when 3 men walked by. I could tell they were Pakistanis, cos they were wearing the traditional shalwar-khameez. They were truck drivers. They offered to help; I thanked my lucky stars and said YES PLEASE! They took over. One of them got into the car and another helped him from the outside, telling him how far to turn, when to stop etc. They freed Joe. I was so thankful! They just smiled and left.

Having had the advantage of living in a multi cultural environment, I know that it is the people that matter, not their country or religion. I drove home thinking about how kind those men were, how I had trusted them to help me, how they could have harmed me but didn’t. I drove home thinking about how India was sending across aid to Pakistan to help the earthquake victims, and how good it was that the situation between the two countries was improving. Cos it was all just politics anyway, people and their attitudes never changed. I’ve had Pakistani teachers and friends. And they never hated me for being Indian. And now these kind drivers. I drove home happy, thinking that there was hope for humanity after all. When I got home I saw the news. Bomb blast in Delhi, Pakistani terrorists suspected. If that was true, all aid to Pakistan would stop.

Why do they ruin it for everyone else?