"A labyrinth of Unpolished Scribbles"

  Recently, while traveling in a private bus, I came across an incident that has been stuck in my mind ever since. A mother and her daughter, who seemed to be around 10–12 years old, entered the bus after a few stops. Since the bus was crowded, they didn’t get seats and had to stand. The girl was wearing a sleeveless frock with frills, and as the bus moved, her frock started flying up because of the wind. She looked very uncomfortable. Her mother noticed this and told her to come and stand between the seats to avoid the wind. Seeing this, I adjusted myself on my seat to make space for the girl to sit next to me. It was a two-seater, and I thought it wouldn’t be difficult to share. But to my surprise, the woman sitting next to me stopped me. She told me not to move and said there was no need to give the girl a seat. She added that the girl’s mother shouldn’t have let her wear a dress like that if it was going to cause such problems. I tried to explain that the child was feeling unco...