MAN WITH LEAST MOBILITY

Glory Sasikala

- Glory Sasikala

(This story is part of a collection of short stories titled ‘A Piece of Pink and Other Stories)

The Moon through the netted branches

formed an Eye,

And I, in my wonder thought,

"Oh my! Oh my!"

Two days back, I went to the grocers in front of my house (simply called ‘front shop’) early morning. As I came out of the shop, I was accosted by the ‘Man With Least Mobility’ (MWLM). He is my inspiration. He lost the ability to walk fast in an accident and has to use a walker, and even with this, he is excruciatingly slow. But he is out of the house the whole day. Sometimes I would see him miles away, in places even I can’t walk to. And he would still be on the move. So now, calculate that he has to come back home by night, walking back the whole way, one tiny step at a time. I learnt from him that all a human being needs to accomplish something is just that leeeetle bit of mobility.

So MWLM was outside the shop, and, as always, I stopped to talk to him. He looked poor and wore an old pair of pants and a faded shirt, but I knew where he lived and he has a nice big house and a family. He had, however, told me that ‘they’ didn’t want him around anymore, now that he could not work. That’s why he left home early and wandered around the whole day.

“You're out early!” I said. He smiled at me, “I've brought food.” He showed me a bag he had tied to his walker. Food and water. Then he looked at me the way my little grandson does most times, “Buy me a biscuit packet.” It wasn’t a request. It was a demand, pretty much the way my grandson demands. I went back to the shop and got him his biscuit packet. And he put it in his bag and happily set off on his journey of tiny little steps that covered miles and miles.

So... that’s my next resolution: to buy him a biscuit packet whenever I meet him. The first resolution is to not take my mobility for granted.

***

Glory Sasikala is a writer, publisher, and poet currently residing in Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. She is the Editor and Publisher of GloMag, an international poetry and prose magazine. Her poetry books, novels, and short stories are available in various online bookstores such as Amazon and Flipkart as well as on her blogs. She is on the brink of publishing a very interesting collection of anecdotes and short stories inspired by her rather colourful and chequered life titled ‘A Piece Of Pink And Other Stories’.

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Setu, November 2021