Heroes

Gandhi and all those monks and great philosophers etc they used to isolate themselves in some cave or mountain somewhere to meditate. To find meaning to life, to be at peace with the world.

Yeah well I do the same thing, cept its at Basyir's small eatery, sipping my chai.

Why isolate from humanity if thats what makes us human? To be surrounded by fellow mankind, now thats life. In prisons one of the worst punishments was to be kept in solitary confinement. It can drive a person insane to simply keep him away from outside contact.

Anyway, that sense of well-being that hermits seek in their refuge hits me every morning at that small eatery, getting my chai on. And these are the things I see:

Ramesh who works at basyir, who genuinely lights up when I come. He tells me since everyone is gone on holiday, his mornings move too slowly. I come for breakfast everyday since then, to give him company, and to have his.

There are labourers working on the drain across the road. Shovels, dirt piles, cement, bricks.

Men in tattered ripped shirts, dirt on their faces, barefooted. Women in soiled sarees, carrying a child in one arm and working with the other.

One small girl, barely able to walk yet. Barefooted, she dances! Oh god, Ive seen nothing more adorable than this in all my life! Laughing and smiling she unsteadily wobbles in her celebratory footwork. Yes, thats what it is. A celebration. Oft times children know to cherish life more than we.

Her father, sweat covered brow and hard at work pauses. He joins his daughter's merriment, delighting her immensely. To have missed this would have been a real loss.

Now these people,

these are real heroes.

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