Its been more than 5 months since I last blogged. I owe this silence partly to the nomadic life I have been living since the past couple of years...and partly to the fact that I had started enjoying the silence....the feeling of quietly observing and experiencing without sensing an urge to express. I did not visit my blog page once in these last 5 months, gradually stopped looking at the site traffic and read blogs only occasionally. Blogging seems to be a consuming hobby...habit...whatever you call it. While you're at it...and the wheel is spinning....its difficult to stop...once it stops....it even more difficult to kick start it. Anyway...the silence would have continued - had today not happened.
Today, seemed like just any other day. I spent the day working and pottering around the house doing chores. A friend dropped by in the evening, we spent a few hours chatting and she left. I stepped out to see her off, checked whether I had my house keys before stepping out...checked again and slammed the door close. Returned after 2 mins to find that the key would not open the door. Several attempts later it still would not open. I asked a neighbour to check whether they could open it. They tried...we were still outside the locked door. I decided to call the security guard who mentioned that under such circumstances - the plumber in the building usually climbs over from the balcony in the adjacent flat to enter the locked flat. So while the security guard went down to fetch the plumber, I sat and sipped mango juice at my neighbour's house. Thoughts buzzing in my mind...why did i have this nagging feeling this would happen...I decided to walk out without my phone...i checked whether i had my keys...i did...then why is the door not opening...it felt like a quirk of fate....I gulped whatever was left of the mango juice and decided to go down and look for the plumber who was going to climb over the balcony.
Couldn't find the plumber. He was absconding. How could he not be there... I asked the security guard to go trace him. Meanwhile another security guard stepped forward and volunteered to try his luck with the key. His attempt failed. He said he would try to climb in from the neighbour's balcony if he considered it safe. I prodded him to go have a look. Before I knew it the man was doing a balancing act on 4 inches of space - 10 floors above ground level with no support below. I watched him as he inched ahead one step at a time. In a matter of minutes he had jumped into the balcony of my house and opened the jammed lock ! I thanked him and he left.
I stood in the balcony staring at the narrow ledge he had walked on. I wondered what would have happened had something gone wrong, would i have forgiven myself for allowing him to take the risk? I also, wondered what motivates people like him to risk their life to help someone...to go beyond their call of duty....and why i so easily 'expected' a plumber or a security guard to take that risk so that i could enter my apartment. Would I have risked my life - to help someone in need? maybe not ! Why then, did his life seem less important to my eyes...
Today, seemed like just any other day. I spent the day working and pottering around the house doing chores. A friend dropped by in the evening, we spent a few hours chatting and she left. I stepped out to see her off, checked whether I had my house keys before stepping out...checked again and slammed the door close. Returned after 2 mins to find that the key would not open the door. Several attempts later it still would not open. I asked a neighbour to check whether they could open it. They tried...we were still outside the locked door. I decided to call the security guard who mentioned that under such circumstances - the plumber in the building usually climbs over from the balcony in the adjacent flat to enter the locked flat. So while the security guard went down to fetch the plumber, I sat and sipped mango juice at my neighbour's house. Thoughts buzzing in my mind...why did i have this nagging feeling this would happen...I decided to walk out without my phone...i checked whether i had my keys...i did...then why is the door not opening...it felt like a quirk of fate....I gulped whatever was left of the mango juice and decided to go down and look for the plumber who was going to climb over the balcony.
Couldn't find the plumber. He was absconding. How could he not be there... I asked the security guard to go trace him. Meanwhile another security guard stepped forward and volunteered to try his luck with the key. His attempt failed. He said he would try to climb in from the neighbour's balcony if he considered it safe. I prodded him to go have a look. Before I knew it the man was doing a balancing act on 4 inches of space - 10 floors above ground level with no support below. I watched him as he inched ahead one step at a time. In a matter of minutes he had jumped into the balcony of my house and opened the jammed lock ! I thanked him and he left.
I stood in the balcony staring at the narrow ledge he had walked on. I wondered what would have happened had something gone wrong, would i have forgiven myself for allowing him to take the risk? I also, wondered what motivates people like him to risk their life to help someone...to go beyond their call of duty....and why i so easily 'expected' a plumber or a security guard to take that risk so that i could enter my apartment. Would I have risked my life - to help someone in need? maybe not ! Why then, did his life seem less important to my eyes...
