Transience

On my way to work I often cross paths with an old beggar...he has a fixed signal where he can be found knocking the windows of various kinds of cars...my old lady (!) too has had that privilege a few times...there is nothing new about such a scenario except that this man is a bit unusual...

The first time I noticed him was when I stopped at the signal a few months back and was rather surprised to see a bearded, frail old man sitting on the footpath reading "The Asian Age"...a few days later it was another English daily...and since then it has come to be quite the norm...

Then one day he came and knocked my window...as is our conditioning and the ideals that we have come to nurture with regards to the "business" of begging, I ignored him and asked him to move on...but I saw him looking at a sticker on my windshield...and he asked me "kya aap is club ki member hain?"...now its no ordinary club (if I take my dad's word for it!) and the fact that he knew about it and then went on to advice me on its sports facilities was really awkward...he said he was "poor people" and needed some money for his breakfast...I sheepishly took out some coins and gave it to him...and unlike most such occasions when we feel good about doing such deeds, this time I was really uneasy...

I don't know what his story is...or what he feels in his situation...he is clearly educated and still behaves with an air that reflects a prosperous past...and he is clearly alone...did he lose his entire family in some tragic accident? Did his children abandon him in his old age? Did he ever make an investment which went horribly wrong? Maybe I should stop some day and ask him...or maybe I shouldn't...

Guess it's just one of those things that remind you how transient everything really is...