I went for my run today.. as usual in the afternoon.
I love the sun..even though I come back with uneven skin tones..sometimes I am grateful for the non-uniformity …at least It makes me feel… part of …….. Uneven… Not smooth.. not equal…
I live in Mumbai.. a crowded Island, the irony of the oxymoron is not lost to me…and on a Sunday the roads are pretty crowded.. as if, like the rest of the week, most people make “enjoy my holiday” as a task on their task list ..and many I presume successfully tick that off their imaginary list as well.
So here I was feeling happy and running..Listening to Alanis and dodging the random pile of poop ..and rubble.. and once in a while pausing ..much the annoyance of my “running” app …. to click abstract pictures of nature that catch my creative ..wondering …fancy…and post it with some spontaneous, sometimes quirky insight..which of course happens often..and affects my average pace..
As I approached a particularly busy roundabout .. with 8 roads leading towards and away from it.. and people in their cars..bikes.buses.. waiting..honking…busy in their own worlds… I saw a sight, not unusual in a city like Mumbai..but yet.. somehow, today it made me feel suddenly cold….even under the scorching sun…
In the middle of the crazy traffic and crowd.. was a woman..maybe about 20 yrs old.. a slum dweller… struggling to bathe herself and her small approximately 4 yr old daughter.. with the trickling water from a burst pipe… struggling for a ‘normal’ day…maybe, even feeling ‘lucky’ that the pipe burst.. she now had water… to keep cool.. to be clean.. struggling to keep her dignity… struggling to play her role ..
and struggling and hoping that the world did not see her …. on that front she probably did not need much effort.
The struggle..and different “definitions” of the word..by different sets of people..All humans .. somehow felt like a punch in my gut…and it took my breath away..
As I ran past these two girls… trying very hard to not look at them…I found that my speed had somehow … increased… and I wondered If I was running away…
The thought of capturing this moment on my phone…crossed my mind ..but very briefly… I realised how I would feel if someone did that to me…I could not bring myself to objectify this intimate personal human act. The Respect ..the dignity..was tender.
I moved on… but the image still burns in my mind…and stings like the tears on my cheek…. that simple tings like this should be so difficult for some people….under one sun…
How did we end up in a world like this???
How are we sleep walking like this….
What more will it take for us to wake up.. to see .. to feel.. to know…
Maybe we need to also take a bath..
In the open..
Become naked for once and let the sun scorch..
and create uneven tones….
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