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Everyone was too busy to help Vidya

Faisal Shariff in Bombay

On Friday, the signal at the Maratha Mandir cinema junction was witness to something more than the daily traffic, the ire of a spurned lover, Rasik Solanki.

His overtures had been rejected time and again by Vidya Prabhudesai, a forty-one-year-old spinster, working as a typist with the Reserve Bank of India. In a fit of rage, Rasik poured a can of kerosene on her and set her ablaze, slipping away from the scene of the crime before passers-by could react.

He needn't have worried, for they were a callous lot, least interested in helping a woman crying for help. People even refused to talk about the incident, callously mentioning that such incidents were nothing new for them.

"Apun kuch dekha nahi. Lal batti tha. Dhande ke time pe kaun jayega," (I didn't see anything. The red light was on. It was peak business time, how could I go?) said one of the shopkeepers who was bang across the street when the ghastly act was committed.

Sandwiched between the numerous food-stalls was a small tea shop owned by Lokesh, a Bangalore youngster. He was the only one who ran across the street as soon as he saw Vidya in flames, screaming for help.

"I ran across the street with this (pointing towards the bucket of water which he uses too wash the tea cups) and threw the water on her. She fell down. The fire left her torso, but her legs and face were still in flames. I ran back and put more water on her."

"Everyone was running away from her even as she screamed for help. Had I seen her a minute earlier, I would have been able to save her," added Lokesh, who has been in Bombay for more than a decade.

Didn't anyone else come to Vidya's rescue?

"Bombaywallahs have no feelings for anyone else. Everyone here is living for himself."

It took a man from Bangalore to do the rescuing act.

Not a single passer-by had the courage or the heart to respond to Vidya's cries for help. Had someone intervened, she might still have lived to see another day. She succumbed to her injuries on Friday night. Very rarely do people with 95% burns survive.

A shopkeeper said that he was not able to see the woman until someone poured water on her. He mentioned that there was a traffic jam and he barely managed get a clear view of the incident.

However, he did want a clear picture now, a sleazy one to be precise. He asked about the woman and man in question, whether there were any sexual overtones to their relationship.

That's what people seem to be interested in.

Last night, Vidya's relative narrated, on television, the strange behaviour of Rasik towards Vidya. A tailor by profession, he worked as a domestic servant in the house of the Prabhudesais on a paltry salary. He would do any kind of work for Vidya and her family-members, just about anything to stay back at her place for as long as possible.

However, no one has come forward to tell Rasik's side of the story. It has not been ascertained as to what kind of a relationship the two shared, or whether they even shared one.

Rasik is in the Medical Acute Care Unit (MACU), in the sixth floor, of the BYL Nair Hospital, on the ventilator, suffering from alcohol withdrawals. Chances that he might survive are slim.

He is responding to oral stimulus but is not completely conscious, said the doctor attending to him. Not a single person turned up to see Rasik.

"Even if there are any relatives, why will they come forward now? Who will want to associate with a man like this?" asked Inspector Laad of the Agripada police Station. "There is an FIR against him, but he is not under arrest yet. He will be arrested only after he is discharged from the hospital."

The city with the beat sure took a beating that awful Friday afternoon. ALSO SEE
Woman set afire on Bombay street

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