You might think that I cannot see – feel or talk, but the crowd always believed what they like to believe. I am standing here all alone until recently when the renovation started. Right now I have been uprooted and cut into pieces. But still I can see and feel but I never expressed. There are moments which made me wept, made me laugh and some made me think. Even broken down as pieces of wood, I wept yesterday!
The white angel was walking swiftly. The age, work and the burden of running a family hasn’t affected her charisma and style. The light jewelry and the diamond pendent made her look prettier. The pony tale knot was loosened a little bit by the end of the day and the cool breeze made it look weightless. She was having a trace of anxiety, a vibe of hastiness for some thing. I never knew that the anxiety was thought of catching her bus back to home. The hastiness was her concern for the kid who is all alone at home. It hasn’t started raining yet. The rain gods must be taking a break. The summer rain always starts by 2:00 in the after noon and it gave crowd a breath time from 5 to 6, when all are on the rush to go home.
She must be on her mid 30’s, on a white churidar with glimpses of freshness still on her face, but a days work have made look tired. She has a stylish leather hand back close to her chest and a closed umbrella on her right hand. Her sandals are already been wet on the muddy streets of Palayam (University College) She walked to the end of the bus stop looking back to check if any KSRTC bus might come this way. Lot of auto rickshaws swayed pass her, some stopped and the driver left shaking his head. Drivers might be asking an exuberant rate which cannot be accommodated in her budget or she wanted to go to some remote place where the auto rickshaw have to return empty. Time just runs fast as the lights where fading too. The rain bearing clouds didn’t help her by splashin in too soon. She repeatedly looked up the sky to see if the rain will be any harder. Her face was growing darker as the time passed. Her bindi had given up with the rain drops. It gave her temple a reddish tint look.
As if the best day of their life, there were two young boys standing on the corner of the bus stop. No female soul could pass them without being screened with their anatomical eyes. Guys must be of age 23 or 24. By looks they are well educated and the tag around their neck suggests that they work for some MNC. But their behavior suggested some thing else. Their eyes rested on the white clothed angel with a frightened face.
May be the rain and wind gods where on the guy’s side this time, it started drizzling. The rain slashes where spilled all over with a nagging wind. She tried to battle the rain and save her body with a small umbrella, it didn’t last long. The wind slashed hard with a nasty timing swift. The umbrella just broke like a feeble flower. The summer rain lashed her face with scores of rain drops. All this fight against the stormy weather where being enjoyed by the guys! With moments passing she might have cursed herself staying. She work for the treasury department. An accountant who has bundles of pension bills to pass everyday. Only the old aged came to her from far away places to get their files moved fast enough. In the most bribed department where the peon to the secretary needs commission for a single file movement, she stayed as a single un-corrupted soul. She had finished her daily pile by 4:30 itself, but the aged couple who will have to wait for another month if she doesn’t finish their file by today as it is the second last working day. The elderly couple have traveled from far off place and they where at her mercy. She thought for a moment and decided to stay another hour, but it costing her more than what she thought.
White was not the best choice for a rainy summer day! A simple gesture of kindness can cost a lot at times and for not even one moment she cursed them. Everyone has their little shre of problems and she always asked god only courage to face problems rather than less problems. Way to live, but difficult to follow.. But she is facing the uninvited challenges in her life which she brought as the cost of her kindness.
As the darkness spread in, the mind of young men also grew darker. They started walking towards the drenched angel. The cloth which is already wet was sticking on to her. Was it cold wind or the fear which made her tremble? Fear was seen in her eyes, they came near her with a devilish grin, offering her help. She didn’t respond trying to ignore them. The boys where having fun! Fear of an innocent soul can be fun for devils, but that’s the way life is!
What could I do? A tree which couldn’t save itself from the hands of renovation! I stood here for decades as shelter for many, bearing posters of red and green, watching the young souls roam around me cuddling, fighting and crying. No revolutionary came to help that angel. The mayor has announced road widening as a part of city development and I lost my life! The angel is being harassed right in front of me by two devils but I am helpless.
There are people who pass by but they are busy with their own life. Don’t anyone have trace of humanity or kindness left. All want to live their own life and if some thing happens to some one, it is ‘some-one’, why should I care? They feel the heat only when their loved once get hurt. I cried loud but my sound never came out. I think this is human nature. If they spot a pretty gal, every man venture with a devilish look until the girl comes with some security. Otherwise she should be his family. How many souls are clean that they can open up and say that they never had a bad thought of ravaging a helpless person? This is not only to a girl, it is to the helpless. Young men always make fun of elderly. For their lost agility, for their current state, but what these devils don’t realize is they will loss the charm which make them do all this. Kid you are aging every moment. Youth is not for every, it passes like a stream. You wouldn’t know when it is over. Suffering comes back with interest if traded.
Some one has interfered there! There is this auto driver stopping by asking questions to the guys. I hope the driver saw her daughter in her. He looks like a old rickshaw man. I hope this time, she is saved but how long it will take for folks to learn to live like a human? She is spared this time, but what about the next time? Will the angel help another person by staying late in such a cruel world? I shed my tears thinking about her, may she get multi folds of her kindness in her life which she already gave. May god bless the auto driver who has humanity left in his heart? I lied there waiting for my funeral; I might live in a veranda as a chair or a walking stick. My tears glands have dried, not a single drop left …….
Thoughts of the great Mahagony tree which stood proudly in front of University college right across the Sanskrit college gate. No one thanked the tree, the devils as the tree thinks, took him to the next furniture shop and his journey continues with no more tears but a numb feeling of sorrow
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