My day started off as usual. I was expecting another partly occupied and partly bored day after my husband left for work. But, chatting with my friend Priya not only brought a feeling of lightness, but also made me look into myself. Sometimes you need a good friend to tell you what you are good at, what is nice about you and ask "what's wrong with you ?". After receiving some good comments for my FB posts, today I am giving it a shot in my blog, solely because of Priya's words of encouragement. Thanks Priya for everything.
Those Unknown faces - This blog is an effort in sharing my memory about people whom I have met only once, but have a fond memory to tell.
That was during my college days. May be 2nd year of Engineering. I started off to my friend Raghavi's place in Chrompet,Chennai. The commute takes an auto+train+long walk to reach her house. I got down at Chrompet station wearing a blue jeans and a checked shirt from Pondy Bazar. That was a little bit of style statement in Chennai in mid 2000s.It was a National holiday and there were fewer people in the station. I was walking towards the foot over bridge , when I saw a beggar - a lame man around 20 feet away. He was struggling to hold his crutches and a dirty old bag with his stuff.
I could see he was losing his balance. But there were a few walking past him and I assumed they would help him and kept walking towards him, rather towards the footover bridge behind him. Suddenly that guy lost hold of one of his crutches and his bag and was about to fall hard on the concrete Railway platform. I don't know where from I got that energy, I ran superfast and went and held him. I held his hand over my shoulder, took his crutch and his bag on other hand, and put them back in place on his shoulders. He smiled, thanked me and never asked alms. We moved in opposite directions. I would have walked a few yards and a middle aged woman came to me and shook her hands. She appreciated me for whatever ounce of humanity I exhibited and said she wanted to come past the tracks from where she saw that struggling man. Neither did I expect that I would run to help this beggar, nor an unkown woman to pat me there. Those 2 unknown faces have a place in my nostalgia.
I could see he was losing his balance. But there were a few walking past him and I assumed they would help him and kept walking towards him, rather towards the footover bridge behind him. Suddenly that guy lost hold of one of his crutches and his bag and was about to fall hard on the concrete Railway platform. I don't know where from I got that energy, I ran superfast and went and held him. I held his hand over my shoulder, took his crutch and his bag on other hand, and put them back in place on his shoulders. He smiled, thanked me and never asked alms. We moved in opposite directions. I would have walked a few yards and a middle aged woman came to me and shook her hands. She appreciated me for whatever ounce of humanity I exhibited and said she wanted to come past the tracks from where she saw that struggling man. Neither did I expect that I would run to help this beggar, nor an unkown woman to pat me there. Those 2 unknown faces have a place in my nostalgia.
