It was around 8 in the morning,
and the city was bustling with the chaos of school kids dressed up in their
uniforms, carrying a load of school bags on their backs with colourful and
cartoon sketched water bottles in their hands.
It is always nice
to see the school kids as they are the only group of humans who don’t carry
stress like adults. Children always give their burden to elders, but adults
can’t as they are always overburdened by the word called “responsibility”. We
can also be like them if we give all our burdens to God, but, it’s easy to hear
and say and difficult to follow.
Every day we are
under stress; we are so much bothered about a lot of things from politics to
financial markets, from the personal life of celebrities to crime around us,
from bomb blasts to the signing of the nuclear deal and from the work pressure
of job to the emotional pressure of family. With all such thoughts juggling
inside my skull, I was waiting for my bus to college. I became alert as soon as
I saw the yellow bus coming near to me. It stood at its usual stop and I could
see some waving hands and some screams of “Hi “ “hello” “good morning” etc. and
I thought “My friends, why do they always get excited whenever they see me?”
well I am like that, I like boasting about myself even in my thoughts. I went
inside the bus and gave a big grin to everyone and took my seat by the window.
My college being on the outskirts of the city, it took around 2 hours to
reach, first, we passed through tall apartments, flashy shopping malls, offices
with glass buildings, hoarding of beautiful girls and guys drinking soft
drinks, eating chocolates, talking on mobile, washing clothes etc and bustling
street with kids, office going crowd and row of cars. Then we took a turn to
the G.T road, I could see only dust, trucks, mechanic shops and roadside dhabas
with small kids in filthy clothes cleaning tables and shops with more swarthy
and dingy kids waiting for some blessings from the dhaba walas in form of some
remaining morsels. When one part of society is getting educated the other part
is fighting hard for their basic needs. That is the real world.
Then we took a
turn again to a more remote place, here I felt some fresh air passing through
my nostrils and I saw small shops, farms and a lot of milkmen, vegetable
sellers etc. getting ready to catch city buses, they might be vendors in the city
and amidst all these things I saw an old lady sitting under a banyan tree. She
had swathed herself in a cotton saree and on top of it a torn blanket and here
and there I could see the pieces of the shawl. Although the climate was not so
harsh for her to clad in so many clothes, I had the instinct that she might
have spent the entire night under the banyan tree. The sudden jerk of the bus
scattered my thoughts about the woman and I just gave a glance at my peers.
They were dissolved in their chit-chats and I too joined with them until we
reached the college.
On the return
journey from college to home, I became alert when our bus passed by that banyan
tree and to my astonishment, I saw that woman again, but this time she was
lying down. I called a few of my peers and told them about her. They didn't take
it seriously, but I had some strange feelings for her, maybe curiosity or
sympathy. Well the next day I again saw her in the same position and informed
all my peers, even they wondered. Next day while coming back from the college,
we stopped our bus near the banyan tree and bunch of us got down and went to
the lady. She was sitting cross-legged, her eyes were sunken deep inside her
socket, and her swarthy complexion was looking wrinkled and pale. Her thin and
grey hairs were dry and dirty as if she hasn’t washed and oiled them for years.
We asked her about her home and she replied “Mera koi nahi hai”(I don’t have
anyone). I felt a pinch of sympathy and I asked her “Kuch chaiye amma?”
(Mother, you want anything?) and she replied “ Ek beedi kared ke dedo betiya”
(Just get me a cigarette, daughter) and I got furious when I heard the word
“beedi” I told her “ yeh sab ganti cheez hai, uski apko jarrorat nahi hai,
chalo aap ke liye chai late hai” (It’s a bad thing and you should not have it,
I will get you tea) I said that and went with few people and got her Tea and
snacks and left her as we were getting late.
On the return
journey, we were discussing contacting some old age home, so that they can come
and pick her up. A few of my peers even called some people to get some contact
details about the old age home and finally they got one contact and we told
them about the woman. They told us that we have to go to their organization and
should take them to the spot. So, we all planned to go to the old age home in the
morning and get the responsible person to bring that old woman from there. The
next day early in the morning I, along with two of my friends went to the old
age home and spoke to the person responsible. They insisted on a lot of
formalities, so we thought on the way back we will call one of our faculties
also so that all the formalities can be done without any complications. We
called our bus driver and told him to pick us up from the next stop. As the bus
passed by the banyan tree, I saw a few people surrounded by the tree. I got
very anxious and told the conductor to stop the bus. We got down and moved the
crowd to see and I saw the woman lying down, her eyes were closed and her mouth
was half opened as if she has left her last breath from the mouth. One man was
saying "I saw her sitting here for the past one week" and one woman
said, "I was the first one to see her in the morning lying like
this". I got very confused and I didn’t know how to react the only words
which were echoing inside my head was “Ek beedi kared ke dedo betiya” (Just get
me a cigarette, daughter) and I thought “I wish I could have fulfilled her last
wish”. Sometimes life never gives a second chance to make things better!
Source: This is the real
incident which happened with one of my best friends Priyanka and her eyes
filled when she narrated me the same.
