With clothes full of dirt and holes, this old woman, infirm and frizzled, appears before my very eyes, going to and fro in the middle of the road. Everyone is busy doing their mean business. Some are talking vigorously to the other, while some are engaged in reckless and tempestuous affray.
The old lady keeps on watching them with eyes brimming with tears. In need of an empathetic eye, and functioning ears, she stumbles, and her hands, quivering, reach down to the burning road.
It feels as if happiness has taken a long leave and will never return.
Meanwhile, a humble soul came closer to her and asked if there’s something that bothered her, but it seemed as though she was deaf. In fact, the reality was as such. With much fortitude, the humble soul accompanied her to his home for tea, but she made no sip out of the tea-filled cup. He talked to her, but no word came out of her mouth. She seemed to have been dejected and broken deeply by something. Unfortunately, he knew nothing of her.
Thoughts upon thoughts were coming to his mind, and ultimately he decided to take her outside his home: perchance any of her relative could pass by, and recognise her, and take her back home. The sun was about to set, and a voice was harshly and swiftly thrown at the man and the old lady: ‘Chirghar Mohalla’. The ‘mohalla’ which was a few kilometres away from where they were now standing.
The man was intensely glad. And in no time, he took her to the rickshaw wallah, whom he asked to accompany them to the above-mentioned place. However, there was a most shocking reply: that the rickshaw was not for ‘old dolts’. Then he drove away hurriedly. It put a heavy weight upon the man’s heart. Cold sweat started oozing out of his face; nevertheless, he stood up and managed to take her to another rickshaw wallah, who happily agreed to make the journey possible.
As they arrived at the place, the most difficult job for the man was to find her home. As he turned his eye toward the lady, she had already dozed off. He stepped out of the rickshaw to ask one of the shopkeepers about the place where the lady resided. His cutting reply was: “Again! This old imbecile woman at our door!”
The man was quite shaken by such farrago of mean words. He thought, where is humanity? Where has it gone?
Somehow, he calmed himself and tried to wake the woman sitting in the rickshaw. No movement from her end. He tried his best, yet nothing happened. Meanwhile, her children turned up, and a good number of people gathered all around. Now the man was nervous on account of what the same people might think and blame him for the woman’s condition. He left the place with the hope that her children were now there to take care of her.
Exhausted, he walked towards a tranquil spot and took a deep breath for a few minutes. Eventually, on his way back to home, he came across two young men talking to each other. Shocked he was to hear their conversation:
“You know the lady who was ‘disregarded’ by her children?” asked one man.
“Which lady?” the other asked.
“The one who was seeking alms on the street next to the shop,” said the man.
“Got it! That shopkeeper who often abuses her,” said the other.
“Yes, I’ve heard that she has passed away!” said the man.
“What a pity!”

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Faizaan Bashir