Can you shut up and watch nonsense happening in front of you on a daily basis?

My husband says I keep complaining about the place I stay. And trust me this is a fact. When I was in Delhi I kept nitpicking about people out there. Now I am in Kolkata, I really do not like anything here but food and fish. You may be wondering about my psychological balance. Wait a bit. Let me tell you that I can really be happy with very less. But am not ready to sacrifice when there is no need of it.

Let me tell you about what I used to whine, I would rather say I protested.

In Delhi

I used to fight a lot with auto walahs about not running the meter. I used to go to office by auto, and it turned into my routine to get into an argument most of the time. In the mornings they would run the meter but take two rupees more than what the meter read. But on the way back from office, they would charge 10/- more than the actual rate. So when I used to be late I used tell the driver, ‘yeh lo tumhare extra 10 rupaye, yeh to bhara nehi hai…asli bhare se jyada hai, to isko tum bhikh samajh ke rakh lo’. There are many incidents of my fights with autowalas. Most of the time I won the battle! LOL (not because I am a woman, please!)

Smoking in the bus. I have a problem with cigarette smoke. So, if anyone smoked in the bus, I would simply tell the bus conductor about it. He used to handle the issue. One day, a bus conductor started smoking in the bus, I could not get to know about it as I was far behind. The conductor was a Hariyanvi, so was very rough with his behavior. A bahenji started complaining about it and the conductor answered back, yes, and the way he answered was not a polite one. I would have slapped him across his face I had to get such an answer. Rather the bahenji was an elderly woman. She said she had problem with cigarette smoke so she complained to the bus driver. Instantly the conductor said, ‘aap utar jaona bus se! manne to cigret pina hai bas.’ Strangely enough, the driver did not say anything to the conductor, just requested him to throw out the cigarette very humbly. I, then thought that might be the bus belonged to his father. I kept observing some more time, as I had time till I reached ITO. The lady had patience, she kept complaining and the conductor was very stubborn, as he kept chain smoking.

To my utter shock, no one came and supported her. I then stood up and called the conductor, “ Bhaiya, jara suno…” He came to me, ‘hanji madam!’. I said, ‘bhaiya cigarette fek do, aisa hai ki mujhe asthma ka problem hai, agar tumne nehi feka who cigarette abhi ke abhi, to main agle signal pe traffic police ko bula kar complain kar dungi…phir tum fine dete rehna ya phir jail jana. Thik hai!”

The conductor then said, “apni bus ke andar cigarette pine se fine lagta hai kya?”
I said, “haan lagta hai, us police wale bhaiya se puchh ke phir confirm karun?”
The conductor said, “mujhe nehi pata tha madamji, thik hai, ab nehi pina hai.”
I said, “thank you bhaiya, ainda koi aur aap ke bus main piye to usko bhi bol dena.” He said, ‘thik hai’. The lady thanked me when I got down.
So, I shared two stories…I will share more stories in future about Delhi and Kolkata. Keep waiting. And also please advise me how I should handle my attitude, right or wrong…whatever!