Insistence on empathy holds the key to a society bonded by trust

livemint.com:

Awinter bloom of mauve wildflowers is not there in my childhood memories. On one of those very paths, she strode ahead, leading me. The dog pranced around, with the full river on the right and the dazzling brush on the left bordering the dense tree-line.

She saw him from a distance, swimming in that nippy morning, and began screaming as her pace increased, “Kyaa kar raha hai, Amma ke paas jaa. Jaa, jaa, nahin toh peetoongi" (what are you doing, go to mother, else I will give you a hiding). He dived and disappeared to surface near the point we had reached on the path, laughing.

We strode on, her anger bubbling. “School jaanaa hai, dus baje, aur Amma ka itna kaam hai" (we must go to school at ten, and there is so much work we have to do for mother). Who is he, I asked.

My elder brother, she said. How much older? Two years. How old are you? Fourteen.

And you will give him a thrashing? Yes, I will. I always do. He lets me, she said.

He is the best brother in the world. We went up a rise, leaving the river. From the top, we could see the habitation, about 50 scattered huts.

That is Amma’s hut, she pointed out. But don’t you live in the village from where we are coming, I asked. Yes, I do, she said.

I have two Ammas. Why do they kill people, she asked. Who is killing whom, I asked, mystified.

Well, they just kill, don’t they? They killed Bhai, that is why Amma is alone. We reached the habitation. Those who were waiting for me quickly commandeered me.

She darted away somewhere. I had no interest in the conversation. My eyes searched for her.

At the end, I asked about her. She is a very good girl, they said. Her brother is good too.