in a country like india, where penury or abject poverty is taken for granted for the masses to live in, there arise those situations where such incidences do make you think rather than simply walking by. i have always found it very unbearable to watch the aged in utter misery alongside the roads of mumbai (i better write mumbai, although i prefer its colonial counterpart, for satisfying the egos of people who would protest for nomenclatures but not for the needy) . the sheer site of those once existing smiles lost behind layers of wrinkles; those tear-filled eyes behind broken, cello-taped, thick glasses; their bones which seem to be waging a war against their skin to tear through; those soiled, torn patches of cloth that they wrap around themselves for
warmth (i wonder what the recent chilly winters might have done to their internal warming systems when we were busy wrapping ourselves under cozy wollens) ; or the stale, left-over morsels of food which we waste, that they lap up to barely fill their hungry stomachs.
it simply pains to see an old person, and especially an old woman, just to scrape through their daily existence, doing manual labour at an age when they should be playing with their grandchildren.
the other day i was taking a break from studies at the library and was outside a sandwich counter. whilst waiting on the sandwich, an elderly man came and sat near us. i noticed he was carrying a cup full of water. he then silently opened a pack of parle-g biscuits, having placed the cup besides him. i was shocked when he took out a biscuit and actually dipped it into the water, before he ate it. it was a very pathos-filled sight, and i stood looking at him.
a few days later, at the same place and at the same time of the day, came an old woman, frail looking, wearing a saree and carrying a large plastic bag. my friend had just thrown a used bottle on the ground. she came and silently picked it up. she looked around for anymore waste which she could collect and sell to earn a few rupees for her small meal at night.
these are instances which make you stop and spend some time to think about these very people, who in their youth would have certainly looked after their kids, but had now ended up on streets.
think. ponder. do your bit.
if you can't spread smiles, at least make sure you don't let smiles fade away!!!
