The Invisible people
This is that time of the year where I
travel a lot for work. Today evening, I was travelling from a University guest
house to a hotel. I was busy on my phone. Twenty minutes or so later, I looked
up and saw a vast field rich with fertile brown soil bordered with green waving
plants to the backdrop of a majestic mountain. Realizing what I have been
missing, I locked my phone and stared out of the car’s window.
A while later, I asked the driver where he lives. He
said he lives quite close to the university. I asked him if his family also
stays with him. He said yes. I told him that he didn’t seem like much of a
talker. He said he is but then he is not used to his passengers talking to him
much. He went on to add that people of my age will be busy with the phone. Those
who are older will keep staring in to a newspaper or a magazine. No one
talks to us. That last sentence made me feel strange. Was it sadness, was it
realization or was it shame? I do not know. I continued listening to him
realizing that having people to listen to what you have to say is indeed a privilege.
Earlier in the day, I remember a
staff in the university who helps with the chores serving us tea and snacks. I
was busy signing off certain documents. The second time when she came, my
colleague looked up and said thank you. She had a puzzled expression. The
person sitting next to me told the lady that he was thanking her. She smiled
and said that she understood what my colleague said. It is just that she isn’t used to
being thanked.
Due to the continual travel for work,
I try to stay in the same hotel at the cities that I visit. It is my way of
holding on to whatever little certainty I can find in the madness of being a
wanderer. The bag that I was carrying was quite heavy. The person who carried
it was lifting the bag and bringing it. I asked him to roll it so that it will
be easier for him. He said at times when he rolls it, people feel bad. I said if he continued lifting bags instead
of rolling them, he will get back pain. He looked at me and said that people
aren’t really concerned.
At times, my friends and I go for late night
dinner. When we come back, most of our apartment would have gone to bed. There
is one group of people who gets most affected by our odd timings – the security
guards. On one such night, we were getting in and my friend said “Senthil
Anna, we are sorry we made you wait.” He smiled and said that I will stay awake
for all the days that you come late just to hear my name being called and not
just “Security!”
It doesn’t take much to make people
feel relevant. However busy we are, let us show them, the invisible people around
us that they matter to us.
Special
thanks to my friend Vivek, for putting this thought in my head.
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