On a chilly but a cheerful and sunny morning of January, my friend and I were taking a walk in a park. As we ambled through the park chatting, a somewhat imposing sight caught my attention.
A tall old man, sporting a grey beard, draped in a blanket over kurta-pyjama with two bagfuls made his way across the lawn, his gait slow but purposeful as if he knew where exactly he was headed and why. Sure enough, he settled in a certain area of the lawn. I nudged my friend to stop and observe him. He spread out a sheet and settled. A flurry of squirrels around him that emerged from nowhere made me more and more curious. I kept observing him as he took out the contents of the bags one by one and arranged them: some chappatis wrapped in a paper, a heap of newspapers, lots of newspaper sheets, all cut uniformly in rectangular shape and size, and a container with a lumpy paste of wet flour. As my eyes fell on the last of the contents, everything fell into place. It was a pile of small newspaper bags.
We approached the old man and struck a conversation. Making paper bags while feeding the squirrels chappati bits at that very place in the park was the old man’s daily routine: to sustain himself by selling paper bags to peanut vendors, to overcome loneliness, to surround himself with people, some of whom, brought food for him, to chit chat, or maybe to relive his memories in solitude with his long lost wife.
At no point of time during the conversation did the old man sound bitter, helpless or go into a self-pity mode. At the end of our conversation, I was overwhelmed with mixed feelings – sympathy, deference, admiration and more. There were many useful takeaways for one’s life from this chance encounter: the tenacity to keep going despite life’s blows and odds, a never-give-up spirit, humility, being in control during tough times, self-esteem, maintaining ones dignity that commands respect and keeping self pity at arm’s length.
The happenstance was a live example of the adage: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.
by Tripti Upadhyaya (EH3-006, Eldeco Utopia; 98103 39349)
