Are you one of those who has always disliked nosy neighbours? Do you believe people should mind their own business? Have you strived over the years to do your own thing and leave others to do theirs?

As young adults, nosy neighbours sometimes gave us a hard time. Most of them were more conservative than our parents and frowned upon our comings and goings and parties. They would stride up and down in front of the house, casting angry looks inside when there was any sound of revelry and would grunt disagreeably at us the next morning, making it plain that we had disturbed them and we needed to apologise, even grovel — and should certainly not repeat it.

But we were blithely indifferent to them like all other young people — and we resolved never to turn churlish and ill-natured when we reached the other side of the fence.

So now we try to be accommodating to our young neighbours — who party more often than we do. We stick our heads under our pillows, we stuff our ears with cotton or we just go with the flow and enjoy their music and their laughter as much as they do — and we are not above creating a significant racket of our own when friends and family get together.

For decades, we consciously practised what we believed good neighbourliness was all about: Turning a deaf ear to noise, keeping out of each other’s way, trying not to intrude, but lending a hand when requested. Poking our heads out at every sign of activity next door, peering out of the window to keep tabs on who is coming in or going out and with whom: That is not for us.

In a gated community of blocks of apartments, everyone living cheek-by-jowl, this has stood us in good stead.

Then something so out of the ordinary occurred that all of us were taken by surprise. A neighbour was attacked in her home in broad daylight by her own employee. She screamed for help. Definitely, her voice (very familiar to us as we can hear almost everything through the thin walls and the few feet that separate our apartments) was loud enough.

But to her horror, no one responded to her cries. It was a holiday and everyone was home, yet we did not hear her. Perhaps we had grown so accustomed to living our own lives, doing our own thing and keeping unwanted sounds out that the noise she made didn’t filter through to our brains.

No one went to her aid.

At last, a young boy ventured up to see whether the sounds had really come from her apartment. He was reluctant to intrude. Maybe it was just an altercation with her maid. Maybe she was on a long distance call and needed to shout. Her door was shut, so he left. Luckily for her, her assailant also left at almost the same time. He erupted from the apartment and ran down the road, hoping to exit the colony without anyone raising an alarm.

The sight of the running man rang alarm bells and confirmed the boy’s suspicions — and he reacted. Someone gave chase, someone else alerted the guards at the exit — and soon the assailant was in custody.

Of course, hours went in reliving and analysing the attack — and the conclusion was that the lady was lucky to be alive.

But for all of us — neighbours — there was much to think of. How had we not heard her cries? Was it really better to consistently mind our own business until it became so much of a habit that we remained cocooned, wrapped up in our homes and activities while someone was under attack a few feet away?

Maybe being a nosy neighbour is not such a bad thing ...

- Cheryl Rao is a freelance journalist based in India.