Vox Populi

Dont ask me why I tried....but in my experience, it is not enough just to blog in ones mind, canoodling verbal diarrhoea or on some nights sleeping lesser thinking about a millon things... so here goes the all and more.

We meet many people in a days work apart from whom we call kith and kin. Mine begins with a gentle wish I get early, each morning as I wake up to open the main door for our maid. She is a single mom (the plight of many Indian women in the lower rung of the working strata whose husbands have left them with the greed of marrying another woman who can bear him a 'son'), hard working lady who wishes not have her daughter wear her shoes and become a maid in someone's house. She wants her daughter to go to an English medium school and be more successful than she is today. Many Indian parents want to live their dream through their children. Its a fact!

Next comes Mr. Watchman, infact there are two, who work in 12 hour shifts. So you see one in the morning and the other in the evenings. There is Mr. K, who is rather, I will do my job and is rather dull, sleepy and walks around dazed or stealthily , the other, Mr. P who seems overtly helpful, enthusiastic and cheerful at most times. General psyche would have it that the latter is a helpful man going by the "Seeing is believing" cliche.

It has been a few months since we moved in to the building and have built a rapport with the folks we see as we hop in and out of home each day. As we walked in one breezy, chill evening, we find Mr. P sitting on his chair feeling cold and miserable, there goes "melt" our hearts and hubby dearest parts with his expensive fleece jacket. Another time I parted with the blanket I had since childhood so that he doesnt have to bear the brunt of the weather, after all he is a man in his 50's. Next time we saw him with a swank Ferrari jacket and wondered what he did with the expensive fleece one, thought prevailed a few hours and then it was lost in the mental abyss.

Days go by and he has known me for about 5 months now, during which he has mustered the courage to believe that I am someone he can share his thoughts and worries. He hasnt found any other such shoulder in the apartment other than me in the last many years. Alarm bells! But I was voluntarily deaf. Pat comes a request that he has a little daughter in school and is in the need for some money for her education. He got wind of us supporting our maid for her daughters education. So much for the building mafia having their goss sessions. With mobile phones, In the future I can imagine the papparazzi taking photo shoots of probable must haves from every house. For a strange reason, my husband said ask him if we can get him what he needs instead of giving him the money. A couple of days later, I have a list of books etc. I pick them up giving up my lunch break at work and hauler it with my laptop bag, hand bag on a pissing rainy day in an auto rickshaw. Phew task accomplished! We helped in our own little way. Happy we!