priorities...or simply...respect?

It seemed as if rejection, failure, ‘living up to expectations’ were not her top priorities to mull over, unlike the many people who were studying her either out of boredom or lack of avenues to do anything else productive. I fall in to this category and yet when for that fleeting moment she crossed my range of vision, all persistent worries dissolved instantly. Rejection. Something several of us have to cope with, live with or compromise with, yet she was able to brush it off easily.Passerby’s gawked at her, often looking straight through he, and yet she sat quietly, comfortable in her niche. ‘Unusual for a beggar’ I thought to myself, who had made Chennai Central her home. Fidgeting with her hands, she seemed perfectly sane to me, and yet the furtive looks of disgust that were hurled at her seemed unjust. They seemed to silently order ‘move some place else woman, you’re taking up space that you don’t deserve’. From my seat, all I could infer was that it didn’t seem to bother her, for when was she ever treated with respect? Probably never.

Let me describe her to you. A septuagenarian she appeared to be (though life could have made her appear way beyond her years), with a kindly face that was terrifyingly distorted. Left with degenerate knuckles to hold and savour her decaying samosa, she sat squat on the floor. She had draped herself in a Dupatta and towel, folded several times to appear thick in order to uphold her dignity of womanhood. Her toes ceased to exist as well and what were left of her feet was straddled in mismatched sandals.

We have seen millions of woman like her across the lengths and breadths of this nation. Hawkers, hookers, beggars and yet we dismiss them immediately. My heart leapt out to this woman for the fervour with which she kept herself occupied and made sure she wasn’t a nuisance to anyone around her.Evident that lunchtime had come and she had to banish her hunger, she began her well-accustomed rounds. Hands outstretched she simply stood waiting for people to notice her. No tapping, no touching, no tugging, no violating other people’s privacy. I respect her for that. Once she had won the attention of her audience, she gladly accepted all that was offered to her.The least one can do is treat a fellow human being as a human being. The most minimalist expectation one is entitled to, and yet the millions who trod over her and left with no goodness, gained her respect