Skip to main content

The Old Lady at the Railway Station

 I remember this particular day I was feeling very downcast. I do not recall the exact reason for feeling so but something had happened and it was weighing down on me so bad. I remember sitting alone on a bench at the railway station with tears in my eyes. I was holding them back as best as I could, trying to act normal in a public space. That's when an old lady tripped and fell to the ground a little beside me. As it was the far end of the platform, there were not many people around. I instantly got to my feet and went to help that poor woman as any human being might have done in that scenario. A man who stood nearby also came forward to help her up. As she was able to stand back upon her feet, she looked me in the eyes and just broke out in tears.

It was quite shocking to me at first- to have an old woman sobbing against me so violently. That man tried to calm her down but I could form no word to soothe her. I was still stunned. I honestly did not know what to do. We led her to the nearest bench and made her sit there. That man kept asking her what had happened because it was quite evident that she was not crying because she fell down. There was some other reason for it but she remained speechless with tears just falling out of her eyes with no end. And all the restrain I had on myself- I lost it at once. The tears I had been holding back for too long started to cascade down my cheeks slowly. The old woman took notice of this and wiped them away.

After a while, she calmed herself down and asked for some space. The train I was supposed to get on arrived by then but my heart did not allow me to just board it and leave. I returned back to the bench where I was seated and kept an eye on the lady once in a while. She had stopped shaking and sobbing but she had this look on her face that told me she wasn't alright in the least. She kept looking at me from time to time and I did not know what to do so I just smiled at her whenever her eyes met mine. After ten minutes or so, she turned to face me and returned a smile as best as she could. I got up and went to her side and asked her what had happened for her to undergo such agony.

She did not answer my question, instead, she placed her hand upon my head. She told me that I have a nice smile and that she would pray to God to get rid of all my affliction. I smiled once again but was not satisfied with having my question ghosted. So I reiterated the same again but she just shook her head and told me she was facing a loss that shouldn't be shared with a kid. She told me not to worry about it and that I had made her feel a little better by staying back and making sure she was alright. She once again told me that she really loved my smile. She told me to never lose it no matter what. 

And it's then and there that I actually realised the true power a smile holds. A small smile- a little gesture- a tiny concern- we underestimate the power of all these things in daily life. An act of kindness takes minimal effort mostly. But that can offer the greatest relief to those in need and it might just be the push they need to keep going.

From that day onwards, I vowed to myself to never turn a blind eye to someone who could possibly need my help. Even when I have nothing, if the smallest of smiles can offer some comfort to a person who passes me by, then I know that I will be content at heart.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Significance of Jo March's Monologue in 'Little Women'

'Little Women', a classic novel by Louisa May Alcott was adapted into a movie under the direction of Greta Gerwig (one of my absolute favourite directors of all time) in the year 2019. It portrays the lives of four sisters- Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy- navigating love, aspirations, and societal expectations during the Civil War era. The film beautifully captures their individual journeys and the evolving dynamics of sisterhood. Jo March, who is the second of the four March sisters, is the protagonist who aspires with every fibre in her to become a well-acclaimed writer. It's even more interesting how the character of Jo is actually based on Louisa May Alcott herself, making the story sort of a semi-autobiography. Played by Saoirse Ronan, Jo is portrayed as an extremely independent woman, challenging the gender roles and the restraints placed upon women in society.  Even though the whole movie is something that strikes the very depths of our hearts, there is one particular monolo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lost in the Waves

Beaches have always been a favourite of mine. It's almost like the sea calls my name, beckoning me to embrace its folds. To throw myself into the waters and have no care in the world is something too special to me. Because when I'm neck-deep in there, I'm nothing. My weight against the force of the waves becomes irrelevant. And I'm not just speaking of the weight of my body but of my heart too. In fact, I think my heart is far more heavy than my body ever will be. After all, it is a museum of everything I have loved and lost and loved again. And the artefacts within it weigh down on me- it makes me slump my shoulders and drag my feet while I should be floating around with ease. It makes even the easiest tasks undoable. But the moment I step into the water, I'm free of it all. Maybe it is an inherent nature of mine- to dive into something that is ragingly unpredictable. But rage is so dear to me. Unpredictability is so dear to me. It's something I've grown up...
Post a Comment
Read more

Embracing My Mundane

Mundane things bore people. It bores me. When something becomes a part of my schedule, I lose my enthusiasm for it. That's how I stopped posting here. Because I couldn't keep up the quality of my content every single day as I grew more and more uninterested. But then today, I attended an event. A programme organised by the Indian Medical Association to educate the common folk about basic first-aid treatments. During this programme, the doctor explaining it all to us mentioned a fact that I had heard once and not given much thought to. But it stuck with me today. It stuck like gum on shoe soles. It refused to leave my head even as I walked out of that hall. When the oxygen supply to the brain is cut off, your body will start to shut down in five minutes. Within the next ten to fifteen minutes, you will be rendered a corpse if you're not given proper medical attention.  And I sat there thinking- fifteen minutes . It is the time I take to drag myself off the bed and into the w...
Post a Comment
Read more