What can he do?

Sitting on the opposite end of the table in the canteen of the Delhi High Court, an old man was talking to his lawyer, explaining his problem. From what I could hear, it was some sort of a property dispute. The lawyer was a young woman in her late twenties. She was listening intently but she didn't seem to be very good, though I am by no means a good judge of a lawyer's capability just from their looks. But anyway, you do get a sort of vibe from a lawyer. And this one wasn't very good.

Now, judging from what I could hear of the conversation, the old chap wasn't very well off and had a pretty modest pension. I'm guessing somewhere around 8-10 grand max, and with pretty shabby clothes to boot. So unless he was one of the stingy types, this guy wasn't rolling around town in a Merc. So what's the issue?

After observing the court for around a week, you get some useful insights on how the court works. Firstly, impressions matter. If the judge likes you, you can be pretty sure he's going to look at you kindly. Another nice trait to have is the ability to lay your thoughts out in the courtroom in an effective manner. One poor chap was trying to avoid having to file an extra affidavit due to a typographical error but the judge simply refused to listen because the guy kept going around in circles. He made sense in probably two sentences in the entire twenty minutes he was ranting, but it just doesn't matter; if you don't make sense the first time, you never will. Then again was this lady who's case got thrown out because she couldn't get her point across. All she could do was plead "milux, please my milux". I think she was trying to say "My Lord" but, well, apparently it didn't go so well. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she was addressing the judge in plural when it was just a single judge bench. But oh well.

In the end though, what happens to the poor old chap? Someone unfamiliar with the legal system and its vagaries might not know who's a good lawyer and whose not. And believe me, lawyers don't come cheap. He could (and probably will) end up making dozens of court appearances (for which he gets charged for) and lose the case because he had a terrible lawyer. What does this poor chap with a 10 grand pension do? Most of his pension is gone in hiring the lawyer who can't do jack, and to boot, he'll lose whatever he was fighting for as well. Quite unfair for an old man. Old people any way don't want much in my opinion. A dignified life, enjoy what's rightfully theirs and that's just about it. Seems quite unfair for someone to have to deal with such situations at such an advanced age, but then, that's life.