To have somebody…

A couple of months back, I witnessed a commonplace and yet so extraordinary scene…it etched on my mind forever. The day started as any other, in fact tad on a surly side. Stuck in traffic, with deadlines and meetings looming in my head, I just looked out of the window..and there it was…

The commonplace part…An extremely dirty and unkempt man stood on the pavement, the kind you find lying on roadsides in a drunken stupor, the kind you don’t glance twice at, the kind you walk/drive away from while maintaining a distance..

The extraordinary part…A small woman, neatly dressed, stood in front of him, reprimanding him, but at the same time, brushing his hair with her fingers, straightening his shirt, trying to bring some semblance of order to an otherwise disheveled appearance. And the big dirty guy, just stood there quietly, head bowed, listening to her, like an errant boy getting admonished…

And in that very moment, I was grateful. Grateful that even a ‘nobody’ like him had somebody to take care of him. I don’t think he gives much back in whatever relationship he had with that woman. And are’t relationships becoming just that…an exchange…give and take…keeping mental notes on what i do for him and what he does for me…How we just tend to take our family and friends for granted, don’t even acknowledge the blessing of just having someone who cares for us in an otherwise large and impersonal world.

It’s truly a blessing…just to have somebody…