The old man and his Stick.

Last night I was satndin on the terrace gazing the street across my house..tho my eyes were open bt it was opque to the sight of stray dogs and the motor vehicles parked on the street. My ears were slient to the sound of breeze past the palm trees..may b i was thinkin something..i dn kn..or may b my mind was also numb like my eyes n ears..I dn kn..den I suddnly saw an old man ot of nowhere on my line of sight.

He was wearimg a kurta..carring a jhola across his shoulder n wrapped around his waist was a red cloth. he walkd wid a stick in his right hand hittin the road as he took every step..the sound of the stick killed the silence of the night..the sound echoed in the street..n it reached my ears..may b my ears were deaf to this sound which i ignored few minutes before..my mind starts to wonder..where has this old man come from..i watch the old man..struggling to walk with the help of his stick..he was lost it seemed..coz the way ahead was a dead end.i thought i shud go dwn n ask him where he was headed. bt i stood there on the terrace watchin him walk by . I think he was scared ..his head moved juz the right amount so as to cover either side of his sight..he kept walkin..unless he saw a herd of dogs barkin on top of their voices n approacning from all the directions..he trembled..he re-wraped the red cloth around his waist as he walked..he showd the stik he was carrying to the herd of dogs..then only i realised it was not a stik..it was a folded umbrella..no wonder the sound was so loud when it hit the ground..the dogs moved away bt only to bark more vigourously n gather more energy to scare the old man..

I still stood on the terrace watchin all this happen..i was feelin so sorry for the old man..he didnt look like a beggar..i wondered hw he got here..i wondered if i cud assist him to his destination..stood dere unmoved ..my eyes wide open ..i think the old man was not scared..he didnt try to run ..he instead showd his bravery by inviting those dogs ..he turnd bak n smiled at the dogs as they stood there lookin at the old man walk in front of dem..n i watched him vanish in the yellow street light....i sighed..i relieved..hopin tht the old man gets to his destination..If at al there was a destination destined for him .

I stood there almost for another half an hour..wondering about what i saw..I compared the incident very thoughtfully wid a common, well to do ,physically happy man..n I cudnt make ot ne diffrence bw the two..I puffed a cigarettee n c the smoke diffuse in the silvery moon light..I was blank again..as usual..nce again i was blank....3rd oct 2007