After thought.
The woman as usual lay hidden behind the huge trunk of road side rain tree and i nearly tripped over her outstretched arms.
Her frame ,spare as usual but her face wasn't its usual self. It wasn't bright and her smile of recognition didn't touch her normally twinkling eyes.
On her, enquiry as to my year long absence from this daily trek on the road side ,the morning walk ,i told her about my inability to do so as my knee had given way.
I dropped her usual dole of rs 5 , a little bit more than what i usually drop in other outstretched palms , clanking bowls and tumblers and was about to lumber on when she stopped me with these words "I was also in the hospital for a month and have come only today", to beg --she didn't add .
As i stopped to enquire about her health, she shook her head mournfully and said" No, nothing is wrong with me , it was my son who was in the hospital and he died there".Her eyes clouded and there was a catch in her voice as she continued that he was only '50' and that he had two teen aged children.
Middle aged son with children of his own ! Yet a son is a son however old and well tried by life he may be.My eyes too clouded.
She continued " My daughter in law has left to her brother's house and I have to do this[ begging] to wash my stomach " and went back to her seat.
As i walked on i remembered one of our earlier brief exchanges when she had said that she took a bus from Adayar to this place and it cost her rs 5. I had thought with amusement then, that my dole met the transport expenses of her job .
As an after thought i wish i had increased the denomination of my hand out,since begging is no longer an source of extra income but has become a means of her very survival.
Her frame ,spare as usual but her face wasn't its usual self. It wasn't bright and her smile of recognition didn't touch her normally twinkling eyes.
On her, enquiry as to my year long absence from this daily trek on the road side ,the morning walk ,i told her about my inability to do so as my knee had given way.
I dropped her usual dole of rs 5 , a little bit more than what i usually drop in other outstretched palms , clanking bowls and tumblers and was about to lumber on when she stopped me with these words "I was also in the hospital for a month and have come only today", to beg --she didn't add .
As i stopped to enquire about her health, she shook her head mournfully and said" No, nothing is wrong with me , it was my son who was in the hospital and he died there".Her eyes clouded and there was a catch in her voice as she continued that he was only '50' and that he had two teen aged children.
Middle aged son with children of his own ! Yet a son is a son however old and well tried by life he may be.My eyes too clouded.
She continued " My daughter in law has left to her brother's house and I have to do this[ begging] to wash my stomach " and went back to her seat.
As i walked on i remembered one of our earlier brief exchanges when she had said that she took a bus from Adayar to this place and it cost her rs 5. I had thought with amusement then, that my dole met the transport expenses of her job .
As an after thought i wish i had increased the denomination of my hand out,since begging is no longer an source of extra income but has become a means of her very survival.
posted by K.C. Sujata at
5:29 AM
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