No time to stand and stare

Life was turning out to be so mundane with its routine, I was grilled with work. Preoccupied with work I dropped in to leave our clothes at the sole ironing man who was working on Independence Day in the vicinity. Flamboyantly I order him to get the clothes ironed at the earliest had the plea to catch the train.

He coughed and looked at me”Your generation is always in a hurry .Why don’t you people get your work done before hand? Always this last minute work and you carry the stress on your shoulder".

I got down from the vehicle walked up to him “ mausa  ! You don’t even know me and still you just share this free piece of advice.” I mutter in a tone tinged with anger.

He scoffs aren’t you Mishra babu’s granddaughter? I know you since you were an infant! Your grandmother takes this road to the temple everyday I have existed long before you had an existence in this world. Known your family since last forty years, time has changed you people don’t understand the value of human beings. I have seen you passing by many a times on this road, you moved on from school uniforms to sarees  isn’t that enough time to know you my child?

 I smile, lower my eyes in embarrassment and say yes, that’s a time long enough! With this initial degree of warmth that I felt from this man I stood there to see him at work. Rugged with age a thin body of hanging   flesh . I asked him, could I take a picture of you please, he coughed why my picture I am no celebrity ,I consoled him I work for the newspaper he smiled  I have one leg in graveyard already  what would anyone do with my picture ? I click a picture in an instant, more than anything the thought of being acknowledged as someone, being treated with warmth without any selfish motive moved me! 

We have people around us with whom we share space for hours but they move away without acknowledging us and we have people to whom we are “Someone” but we don’t have even minutes for them. 

That’s us we have no time to stand, stare and spare time for people !

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