Need or Greed
Posted : January 18, 2010 at 10:31 am [IST]
When I came out for my morning walk on Sunday after talking with Anand in US, it was already 8 AM. Normally every Sunday I decide to take a break from my routine of morning walk, but something makes me come out. Sometimes it is for bringing some essential items such as milk or some grocery item.
Sunday was very cold with perhaps the densest veil of fog till date of this season. As advised for persons with heart trouble, I walked slowly. But when I reached Sai Temple, I saw the lone old lady, perhaps somewhere in her 60s, sitting outside where I find her every morning. She gets the most from the visitors to the temple, as she is the senior most! Her earning must be lucrative enough with rich Noida, full with rich men and women.
Is it her dedication and discipline or need rather greed that makes her walk that early every day in the extreme cold too? Surprisingly there was none today with her. Usually there are some more.
The other day I found the security man of the temple pushing her away from the place. She moved few metres on the road and then squatted on the pavement under a tree. I asked the security man, ‘Is she really very poor?’ Idea was to help her once so that she would not have to come to temple every day. According to the security man, she is professional. He had seen her young son taking her away a day before on a brand new cycle in the night. According to Yamuna’s friends, she has built more than one house somewhere and she is pretty well off. But how can her sons like to shun such a paying profession?
At least the day with really inclement weather she would have rested, as it must be painfully troublesome to remain there on pavement in the cold windy day. While I was returning, I found her pushed again away from the temple. I felt bad.
May be she, on her own can’t live inside the four walls of her dwelling or may be her sons can’t tolerate losing her one day’s earning and coax her to go out. Left to me, I would have called her sons and questioned them against using their mother as means of earning without giving any consideration for her age.
However, I can’t but appreciate her timekeeping.
- Indra
Category: Religious/Social issues |
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