About an old lady at bus stop and what she told me..!

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Railway stations, bus stops are places where you find people from across the social fabric, from middle class to ultra poor to children and to old. So yesterday when I had to board one bus from Karwar to Goa, I found one old lady or rather she found me. I had seen her before sitting myself on the bench kept for waiting travelers as she boarded off a bus but didn't noticed much. It was not any rare sight to see people in their seventies and eighties traveling alone while their children kept themselves 'busy', we have all grownup watching such scenes. So I was sitting there talking to my cousin who had given me lift on his bike till there. In the middle of that conversation she came and sat beside me. Not that I was any special but coincidentally that was the only place available. So after a minute or so, she asked me if she can use my cellphone to make a call. The thing at that time was that I had two phones, one which is not so audible but had currency to speak although on roaming and the other, audible but no balance to make a call. First thing that came to my mind was to switch SIM cards and give her the audible phone so that she can speak well with whoever she wanted to but I thought that would make her uncomfortable and may make her think I don't want to give her my phone, and that I'm only making excuses to assert my phone. So I just gave her the not so audible phone to which she gave me a number to dial which was written on a medical prescription slip and was pulled from a plastic bag that had many such papers. I promptly dialed the number, switched on the loudspeaker so that she can hear clearly and gave her. I had put it on her right ear but she took it on her left and started speaking. Sorry that I overheard a private conversation between two women but I had no option there to close my ears given how awkward that would have looked. All this while I also thought of asking my cousin to give his phone, also wondered why he was not offering his and all but leave it, it was not in my control.



The old lady was asking the other lady on phone to sleep early, eat on time and take care of herself. 'You sleep early' was the phrase she continuously repeated. I couldn't grasp the conversation until she told me about it after the call.



Not her, she had more wrinkles and less smiling a face...
She had previously asked phone from other people but she said people have been refusing or just moved away from the scene. Now I don't know why people did such a maneuver given how cheap a call could be. She spoke on phone for less than two minutes. Even if someone is charged on base rate which is highly unlikely given how everyone has an active voice plan, it would cost less than two rupees! Except for a small torn hole, her cloths were all clean and well kept, no smell whatsoever. So it baffles me why people would refuse her the luxury of a call. Anyhow, she thanked me I don't know how many times and later told me about how others have refused it before and why she was reluctant to ask anyone anymore. She told me it was her daughter on the phone and how she had longed to listen to her voice. Again another round of thanks. I really didn't liked them anymore. I was appalled at the value of human life as it ages and how we treat those who gave us birth. I always find old people affectionate and she in her eighties (a guess) with those wrinkles all over her face looked the most beautiful women out there. I wanted to hug her but again, for the sake of awkwardness I deprived myself of that joy. I repent it now.



From what she had told me, she had just arrived from a hospital in other side of Goa with a box of tablets. She showed me the box. I believe it had more than 200 tablets of just one kind. She was telling me how she is afraid of them, that she is alright and won't take the medicines. I told her to eat well and only then have medicines and also to drink lots of water. The conversations then moved to how she had issues with passing her stools and then came the agonizing part. I feared to look at her eyes while she spoke about her always drunk son-in-law and how he had ruined her daughter's life. She told me how he and his family described him before marriage and what he had turned into now. She told me how alcohol is poison when drank off limit and that's what he has done. At present she said he was in hospital after he drank way too heavily and also the fact that her daughter had to work to support herself and the family. There were many questions I wished to ask but I kept quite. I thought listening is all she needed. Most of the times that I have noticed, people really don't have problems that don't have solutions; what they don't have is people to speak to. The world we live in has abundance of those who talk and shortage of those who listen. So I kept on listening. There were times when her voice used to tremble and words won't come clean but I kept on listening. In between I took her hand in mine while she just spoke. My cousin in between inquired about where she lives and all that, and she promptly answered that she has now come to visit a friend of hers, that she would stay there for sometime. She described the place near to sea with beautiful trees and other things which are common to coastal homes and then stood up, touched my chin, said thanks again for she is happy and relieved now after listening to her daughter. I had put hair gel and nicely made my hairdo and may have frowned if anyone dare touched them but she had some magic in her hands that I pressed her hand tight on my head when she kept them there. Then she repeated twice or thrice the lines that shall remain firm with me,



“Don't drink alcohol. Make friends that don't drink or those that don't force. May god bless you. Thanks....”



She repeated 'don't drink' and 'god bless' quite a lot of time. Not that I have not heard these lines before; I believe every parents repeat them to their children every so often but they sounded quite different from her. I have my own reasons not to drink it. I do have friends who drink and those who don't, few who laugh and few who force but all said, I'm not against drinking alcohol. It's people's choice but wish only if people realized their limits and knew fully well what alcohol does to their body and how it ruins families. There are few Indian states where there is ban on alcohol and few where it is cheap. But nothing except people's own will will stop them from drinking it.



The old lady later walked down the bus stop to a nearby by-lane and vanished from there. I was almost still in thoughts thinking about life, old age and about families where alcohol has turned devil in the house... When she turned while leaving with another of her thanks I looked for my phone to click a picture of hers but then something stopped me. I thought, I will best remember her without the aid of technology. May be good things are best savored the old way. Some people do leave their mark easily, don't they?

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