Small vignettes...

January 28, 2006

So many little pieces of action as one walks, cycles, drives past. A cow ruminatively eating a poster as the billposter moves on to sticking up the next one. A cart laden with carpets backing down the slope into the hapless front bumper of a Maruti 800 (one speeds past this before the action actually starts.) A little girl shushing your “hi” on the stairs of your apartment as she hides from her friends; the “tag” girl’s mouth opening in surprise as she streaks “home” free. A lady looking on patiently as two men (one obviously the “owner” and the other one the “driver”) look, somewhat puzzled, into the guts of their car. A youth running for a bus…which he misses..you see him slowing down after giving up the chase.Two ladies haggling at a fruit pushcart.

What goes on after you are gone? Idle curiosity prompts you to wonder….does the billposter get paid? Do the cartwallah and the Maruti finish their quarrel in the police station? Does the “tag” accept the little girl’s “home” or not? Do the car-people get where they were going, in time? Does the youth find another bus or does he have to shell out for an auto? Do the ladies’ families get fresh fruit today? Are all these fleeting scenes what Krishna refers to as the “Maya” of life?