The old man and the tea..

Five more minutes to go before the company bus turns round the archies corner...weekend plans-to-be-made run through my mind as I notice a sudden hush ..Turn around to see every young eye fixed to one farther end of the road..Ah!its time,I realize, for those two pretty chics to make their ramp appearance..And there they show up as usual- elegantly dressed,decently made up, gracefully gliding to their waiting sumo - a daily ritual which none among miss to follow...Its chitter chatter as usual as their sumo wades through the still-colonial kalyan traffic- out of sight.
Two more minutes...
I feel someone tugging my unbottoned sleeve and turn to see a very old man in rags with a plastic cup in his hand muttering incoherently and gesturing to the tea-wada shop nearby...
I try hard to make some sense of the old man...Neither applied mechanics nor marketing strategy, but only a bit of sensitivity is all that is needed, I realized, to feel the plight of the wretched man- a sensitivity lost somewhere in the hue and din of the fast paced life here...Did I hear someone say that mumbaites are resilient??

Being of help to someone and actively making a conscious decision to help someone are two different things. The process of deciding on is often a daunting experience:
Will I be hurting myself if i help this guy (thats what you read about happening to people who help others these days rite?) ?
What will others around think of me (look at this guy, he 's trying to act like a do-gooder-prince, is he?) ?
My consciousness writhes itself through these thoughts at a seemingly slow pace and i appear out of the whole battle between conscience and rationality elightened, confident & happy-virtually..

I take the cup out from the old man's battered fingers and approach the tea-wada shop..
"kya kar rahe ho sahab, woh budda satiya gaya hain.. i had already offered him two glasses of tea and now he 's back again...I wont entertain him even if you pay me...He's goin to stay around and bring bad luck to this shop..and will be a burden for me if he decides to spend his last days here..These are the times......."Just then,I hear my company bus honking round the corner even as i try to collect my thoughts on the course of action...Abruptly putting a fullstop to my train of thoughts, I toss over the plastic cup back to the anticipating old man and get into my favourite front seat just managing to avoid- those hopelessly hopeful eyes..

I recall, while in second grade, we did LEARN "Moral Science"!!!!