He was anything between 17 to 22 . A rag picker or a beggar, I couldnt make out from his clothes as the light was very low. It was a Saturday night around 9pm. After dinner I was annoyed by a loud thumping noise from across the street and found this lad was the one who was making it. He was trying to break a wooden frame out of a tin sheet, which was looking quite sturdy, of size not less than 3ft by 6ft. It must have been some piece left by the canal digging people. I was intrigued how he manage to break the wood without any proper tool. So I started watching the process. He was having a big stone with which he was banging the frame at some precise point (now you understand the amount of noise that was made, tin and stone!!) to loosen it from the sheet. He was almost done, when a guy passing by in a Bike stopped and enquired what he was up to. The boy mumbled something and the next thing I saw was the Bike guy hitting the boy right and left, kicking him violently calling bad words and tried to chase him off. The boy taken by surprise submitted initially, but raised his hand against the hitter, and tried to defend himself. The people from adjacent apartment intervened and made the bike guy to leave the lad.
Now I was wondering who was the bike guy, and who gave him authority to hit a fellow human like that. The sheet was only a junk, and other than the noise he was making, the lad I think was committing no offense. May be he wanted it to fix it in his hut, or may be he wanted it to be a shelter for his platform corner where he was staying..could be anything. Eventually he broke off the frame and carried away the sheet on his back. The whole episode lasted only for a few minutes, but it did leave an impact, which I couldnt explain. Why did he get assaulted?? It looks a bit ridiculous/make no meaning, terms like human rights et al..Worst of all, I have no idea how to react in such a situation!!!..I was yet another silent spectator, like quite a few people watching like me from their safe and sheltered homes...