Simplicity
My brother was playing downstairs earlier this evening and despite calling him many times, he refused to come upstairs. Angry at his arrogant behaviour, I stormed out of the house to give him a good scolding. I didn't know where he was but I knew that he had befriended a new tenant who was approximately his age, so I went up to the floor where I assumed his new friend lived.
Since I wasn't aware about the flat number, I just kept looking at the shoes left outside the doors hoping to find the tiny brown flats belonging to my brother. Some pairs of excited eyes kept following every movement I made from the balcony of a flat of the opposite building. I noticed the girls at first but didn't pay much attention to their faces. The eldest girl, who was an occupant of the flat, eagerly kept looking at me and kept waving her hand every time I glanced in their direction. Being six-seven years older than them, I didn't know much about them except that some of the girls went to the same school as I did.
It was the tiniest girl of the lot who caught my attention. I couldn't recognise her at first when she smiled sweetly at me with four missing teeth and mouthed the word "Hi." Since they had been waving to me from the time I was on the fifth floor to the ground floor, I thought it would be extremely rude if I didn't wave back. So, without the slightest idea about these girls who were so excited to see me, I waved back an ecstatic "Hi" and pondered why did the face of the young girl seem so familiar.
Since I wasn't aware about the flat number, I just kept looking at the shoes left outside the doors hoping to find the tiny brown flats belonging to my brother. Some pairs of excited eyes kept following every movement I made from the balcony of a flat of the opposite building. I noticed the girls at first but didn't pay much attention to their faces. The eldest girl, who was an occupant of the flat, eagerly kept looking at me and kept waving her hand every time I glanced in their direction. Being six-seven years older than them, I didn't know much about them except that some of the girls went to the same school as I did.
It was the tiniest girl of the lot who caught my attention. I couldn't recognise her at first when she smiled sweetly at me with four missing teeth and mouthed the word "Hi." Since they had been waving to me from the time I was on the fifth floor to the ground floor, I thought it would be extremely rude if I didn't wave back. So, without the slightest idea about these girls who were so excited to see me, I waved back an ecstatic "Hi" and pondered why did the face of the young girl seem so familiar.
Then it hit me. She was a girl from my school who used to travel in the same auto and she lived in the opposite building. She was seven years younger than me and sensing her nervousness to be in such a huge school, I had coaxed her into talking to me about the new friends she had made and the various classes she attended, along with the games she used to play in their games periods last year. She had abruptly left the auto but she was a face often seen in the parking lot by me as we ended up arriving at school around the same time on certain days.
Pangs of guilt hit me and the intensity of the memories choked me. The small girl remembered me but I couldn't even recognise her just because she had lost some teeth and longer hair. She wasn't worried about whether I would notice her or not but she waved to me happily. Meanwhile I on the other hand, think hundreds of times whether the person would notice me or not if I waved because it is embarrassing when they don't.
It's a common notion that we start figuring out things as we grow up but don't we just lose our simplicity in the complex maze of problems that become harder to escape from as we age older?
Pangs of guilt hit me and the intensity of the memories choked me. The small girl remembered me but I couldn't even recognise her just because she had lost some teeth and longer hair. She wasn't worried about whether I would notice her or not but she waved to me happily. Meanwhile I on the other hand, think hundreds of times whether the person would notice me or not if I waved because it is embarrassing when they don't.
It's a common notion that we start figuring out things as we grow up but don't we just lose our simplicity in the complex maze of problems that become harder to escape from as we age older?
Comments
Post a Comment