The forsaken gods

As I stepped into the cold area, shivers ran down my spine. Hollow yet expecting pairs of eyes were gazing upon me from within the sunken eye sockets. I could hear moans and groans from everywhere corner of the room. A faint cough reached my ears from the extreme corner and when my eyes sought for the owner of the voice, there she was, weak and frail, her skin sticking to her bones and she looked like a corpse. Barely moving even while she coughed. Someone right near the door called unto me and all I could do was to turn around and give a smile. I tried hard, indeed very hard to keep a cheerful smile on my face even while I felt like breaking into tears. Thin bodies covered in dirty pieces of clothes were leaning on the bed inside the makeshift house. They looked like skeletons laid down in a biology lab. The sight was really disturbing.

What was once considered as an unimaginable action and sin even to think about has now become a harsh reality. More and more people think of and many opt to dump their aged parents so that they can have no burden on themselves. People think it is the best possible way to do so, so the couples can carry on with their careers.  It is justified that the presence of an old parent at home is too much trouble for the children, bringing friends at home is embarrassing, they need to be tended to when they are sick, vacations are out of questions and there is no room for privacy. But all these justifications fall flat when we realize that the old parents called as problems are the very people who took care of the children whenever they fell sick. They gave up their favourites for their children's expenditure. They sacrificed outings, friends and vacations only for the sake of the children. They did not talk about not having privacy whenever they were in need of their parents. And when the parents grow old and the children start having their own family, they pay back their family by dumping them.
With the busy schedules of the children, all material requirements might be well provided but surely the vacuum of love and affection that only a family can provide is still there. The anticipations and expectation that a parent has from their children are never met. An indifferent institution seems a better option than bitter nostalgia and loneliness at home. But, it doesn't replace the warmth of a real home filled with the presence of one’s kith and kin.
On the other side, there is no denying the fact that some cynical elderly parents have spoiled the lives of their adult children. Many marriages have been destroyed due to the constant interference of these people. Still, dumping them is not and cannot be a permanent solution. Slogging away at work or even enjoying life to the hilt isn't really worth it at the cost of losing one's parents. We are what we are today because of them. Of course, not all possess a generous heart, great patience or even remember their duties when it comes to taking care of old parents. That is the harsh reality in the modern world.

The scene at a busy junction

It was already 2:30 pm when I and my friends after having much trouble locating places in the busy streets, reached to a mall just around the corner of the road which lead to a four way junction. The day was sunny and hot, beads of sweat formed on my forehead even as I travelled in an auto (which usually isn't very comfortable when it is five people sitting in one). My friends had some shopping to do while I chose to be left outside as I feel more comfortable being outside those tall buildings rather than feeling lost in those big rooms full of commercial materials. With my earphones in my ears and a Bhutanese music playing on full volume, I decided to look around as it would be sometime, when my friends will be done with their shopping.

As I stood there watching, people rich and poor, old and young, huge and small, were busy doing one thing or the other and some were rushing to their own destinations. Everybody seemed to be engaged in their own work and the street was too noisy as usual with the hooting and tooting of the vehicles trying to find their own way through the crowded traffic on the road (roads usually wide but so many vehicles on it) and in the midst of all those noise, the traffic and the people my eyes landed on a thin frail man dressed in a brown khaki pant and white collared shirt (which had turned almost grey owing to the dust and the sweat he shed due to the burning sun and the rising temperature) with a dark pair of shades resting on his nose, protecting his eyes from the bright sunlight and a mouth mask (that too white in color, which had turned grey) covering half of his face.
The man would not be given a second thought by most of the people who had passed that junction from where they passed safely. As I stood watching him, I saw his lunch box lying on the small chair under the small canopy like structure, where he is meant to rest while his fellow mate took over the responsibility of guiding the traffic so as to avoid collision (as it is the work of the traffic police), the sun had already slanted towards the west and his lunch box was still unopened. He was giving his best to provide his best service to both the pedestrians and the drivers running to and fro. People seemed in a hurry and so they rather blew the horn than patiently waiting for the other vehicles to pass by. I was watching him showing signs to the drivers indicating them to stop and to move along with his hands, when many thoughts popped up into my mind. I wondered how well he was respected at home by his children owing to his petty job? Questions like, how his children would react if they happened to pass that junction? What comment would a ruthless relative pass onto him? What would happen to the whole traffic if he went missing all of a sudden? And would the government help his family if something happened to him there? Kept coming into my mind no matter how I tried to avoid looking at him.
As I was trying to figure out the answers to my questions my friends came out of the mall, as they were done with their shopping we decided to go around. While we got into an auto again and started our journey to yet another place he was still doing his job.  With the happy chattering of my friends over the excitement of branded things they just purchased the scene of the policeman slowly vanished from my mind but the questions always remained stuck in there.

hi there

This is the first ever article I am trying to write in this blog of mine. I may not meet the standards of a blogger and I ain't a wonderful writer  with good writing skills nor am I a keenly interested writer. I write when I feel like and I completely forget the idea of writing sometimes. I write only when I come along something which, I think I want to write about (just my perception,  don't get me wrong), yet I am hoping to do my best to keep my blog updated and post beautiful things in here so that anyone visiting will have  a good time reading the articles. I always thought of maintaining a blog since I joined college but a chance to really get practical just happened to pass by a few weeks ago and the reason why I joined the blog is still a secret of mine and please don't ask me why, just kidding. I thought it must be fun to have one's own blog alongside reading the blog posts of those awesome writers (I came across many of them, so I don't remember their blog addresses, now i sound rude..:P), that was one inspiration, which dragged me into this blogging world.

Maintaining a diary is way too troublesome for me, especially when, I have to carry it with me to places I go and I am a forgetful person, I even forget to carry my toothbrush with me when I move out of my place, so it doesn't suit me to maintain a diary. And yes. not to forget, I am a lazy bones too. So, a blog page will do me good. Everyday update may not be possible yet I may visit it once in awhile (I am not sure about how long that AWHILE will be though...:D). Looking forward to putting up a great pile of stuffs though they may not be so much fun to read. Ehhhh ..I am already running out of words and now I am starting to wonder how I will be able to update my blog...:P. Anyway, happy reading guys...:).

Regards
Pelmo