Paatima at Alwarpet

Riding back home from work at 5:30 AM has been my schedule for the past 9 months and it pretty much has not changed. Thoughts of eating some bacon or masala dosa filled my mind as I rode back home. The sun had come out and Chennai looked beautiful with all the traffic causers and law breakers still tucked in bed...snoring like they were innocent babies.


I had just passed the Apollo cancer hospital when I saw and old lady, probably 85 yrs old, here legs had given way, and she was actually supporting her body weight with her hands and dragged her body on the road. It probably took her 1 hour to travel the 50 steps I could make in a minute. Her hair was matted, her teeth had all fallen out and it looked like she was dragging herself to a tea shop to get herself a nice hot drink to wash away all grogginess. For her it was another day and she had to start dragging herself to the tea shop before the traffic hit the road.



I wizzed past her on my Enfield and thought aahhh home is close by, I couldnt wait to meet my wife an get some shut eye. As I reached the tenaympet signal I realised I had done the most selfish thing anyone could have ever done. All I cared about was my life, my family, my work, my saving for the future, Oh and ofcourse "MY GOD". My God who taught me love, sharing, holiness, kindness. I skreeeched to a halt...(ok that was a little too much drama) and turned back on the wrong side of the road. Aahhh chuck it, the cops were probably snoring at this time and no one would mind me on the wrong side of the road at this time of the day. So much for law breakers !!

I reached paatima and realised that she had probably taken 5 walking steps that I would have taken. Parked my bike by the side walk and asked paatima, "Paatima unga kal eh ku inna achi"?

Aparently, she was a case of a hit and run accident and her legs had given way ever since. Her son was a drunk and would take away all her money and spend it at the local "TASMAC" (Indian liquor shop). It had rained the previous night and I could see she was damp all over. I reached into my pocket and gave her some money and I saw her eyes dance for a second. It was a bit more that what I would give normal beggars, but eyes filled with tears and she called me "yen kanu". I could actually see the love in her face and I didnt know what to do with myself. With tear filled eyes she said her son didnt care about her at all and.....she was lost for words by now and so was I.

As I rode back home all my problems seemed really small and I wished I hadnt wasted the 'so much' that I've had. For me this was not an achievement, but a reality check.