Home Alone! First time in almost two years, I was home alone, last Sunday. I had planned it very well. One of the things I wanted to do was to listen to some great Ghazals. Went to my music system and created a playlist of some of the Ghazals I have with me. The playlist would play nonstop for almost two hours and I was expecting to be transported to my own imaginary world. After two hours, I had to fetch my son. Switched on the music system and the first song was a great song by the Maestro Ghulam Ali, “….Chori to naHin ki, Daaka to naHin Daala….. No sooner had I listened for a minute than I heard someone at the door. Went and opened the door to meet an almost forgotten acquaintance (of a very long time) of our family. Even before I could greet him, he rushed into the main Hall sat on the sofa and asked for some water. I served him a glass of water and asked him how he was. He barely listened to me and started talking about people and events which I could not follow. In between I reminded him that I am so and so (It has been a very long time since I saw him and thinking he may have forgotten me), yet he kept rattling away! My interruptions hardly mattered and he spoke about an event and he took a huge album from his bag and started showing photographs of some function where he was present at. I just did not follow and became impatient to the point of getting annoyed. It immediately occurred to me that he may be hard of hearing (he is more than 70 years old, I suppose) and started making gestures. One of the things I gestured was to point at my ears and asked if he had some kind of hearing problem. Immediately, he told me that he has a hearing aid, pulled it out from his shirt pocket and said that it had gone Kaput, and made irritating noises and he could not wear that. I was relieved in the sense that at least I figured out that he had a problem with his hearing. He continued with his talk and it was becoming more and more irritating and unbearable for me. After almost an hour, I pointed at my watch and said that I have to go and get my son. He did not pay much attention. He continued. I offered him coffee, buttermilk and what have you. He had everything I could offer. He just did not stop talking which to me never made any sense nor could I contribute to any of his many topics. It seemed he was waiting for my family members to show up or something. It is only my guess. In between I made arrangements to get my son back. More than three hours went past and there was no sign of our acquaintance putting a stop or even better, leaving. There was no food to offer him and I was feeling a little bad about it. I think, after about four hours or so, he finally realized it was time to leave and he left in a hurry without even a proper goodbye. I was feeling miserable that my OWN Sunday was ruined. When my folks came back home that evening, I learned that he had lost his wife a few years ago and lived all by himself in Bangalore. All his children are away in distant lands. He is clearly fighting loneliness. Hearing this I felt really BAD! My only thoughts are about if I was insensitive to this situation? Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham Phanibhushan Sharma
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 13:48:44 +0000
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