Time is 4.30. I’m sitting here in the bus stop in Bakera village, near to a circle formed by a banyan tree. This place seems like a happening place. All the old aged people are coming, greeting the on passers and moving ahead after a while.
My bus, to go back to the city is at 6 O’clock in the evening and I have no option but to kill time. That’s when I headed towards the benches near banyan tree.
With a little hesitation I started speaking to an old man sitting there with two grand children beside him. To my surprise, within 10 minutes of conversation I felt homely with them.
Being an outsider to that village, speaking about the transportation facility was an easier way for me to start the conversion.
Well, it worked!
The grandpa started explaining about how there was no bus to the village a few years ago, and how they celebrated when the 1st bus arrived to the village.
A bus with name plate Gangapur written on it arrived at the bus stop, with no indication of stopping by.
The bus driver took the bus a little ahead of bus stop. People rushed to catch the bus. They ran a few steps in hurry to catch the bus. There was an old man, I’m not sure if he was drunk or appeared to be drunk. With a twisted left leg, he was walking with the help of walker.
He wanted to catch the bus. He called out the conductor to wait for him to come. I’m constantly looking at him. To my surprise, the conductor even after hearing to the old man didn’t stop the bus. The bus left before the handicap could catch the bus.
The old man stood there helpless, and I, stood there like a statue, shocked by the attitude of the conductor. It was the last bus for him to go to his village. People came to speak to him. Suggested him to catch the bus next day early morning. With no other option, he sat there with others on the bench cursing the incident and the bus conductor.
Now, everyone’s attention was driven towards the old man who missed the bus.
As we saw him, the grandpa started telling me about the old days in the village, how they struggled everyday but how there was peace at the end of the day.
The memory lane went back. A smile on his face told everything. He opened up proudly about the life they led with respect and dignity. He emphasized on how love affection and care for each other made them grow together. How trusting people wasn’t a issue and families just didn’t mean a group of three or four people living under same roof.
He remembers all those times spent together with villagers, the work in field that was stressful but filled with laughter and fun. How function in one house meant festival in whole village like a single family, and festivals united everyone. The dinner they had on full moon days in the farm is still a fresh memory to him.
He boasts about his part in freedom struggle, his role as a farmer and a happy living person, how he educated his children with English education system while not forgetting the culture and respecting the tradition of our own country.
You know you are in trouble when the aged people start talking to you about tradition and culture. This is what happened with me.
While he was talking about his times, the topic on culture took him to present days and he is now telling me his views on us youngsters, how we have taken life for granted.
He asks me about my life, our life as youth in general. How we ignore everything that’s happening around us, but interests in others life by scrolling the networking sites on phone over and again. He knows the way we behave with our parents, harsh and disobedient. He says he has stories to tell, but grandchildren don’t have time to lift up there face from smartphones and listen to him.
His face falls down, as he tells, how rare actual conversations have become. Every morning we sit by computers and every evening the television or mobile occupies our time.
It makes him wonder how we are left with little trust, and more junk life.
How we ignore speaking to person sitting next to us and complain and get depressed about someone who 100miles away is not replying to message.
He is extremely happy about development in technology, but he has one complaint about us, the nosy generation.
He tells me, "we are all in fast changing world, a life less tech world. But don’t forget what is retaining the smile on your face, it’s the humanity my dear. The trust and compassion what you develop towards others. The empathy which brings a sense of happiness and peace".
“Come out of the mobile screen dear, your world can be more beautiful than what you think”, and he ends.
May be he felt that he is lecturing too much to a unknown modern world human being. But my thought process was already activated, thinking about all the things the old grandpa told.
It was the horn of bus, which suddenly brought me into reality. As I ran towards the bus, I heard “Take care beta, god bless you”.
As the bus moved, I smiled wide and he waved a goodbye to me.
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