People

I like watching. I like watching people. I may have violated a few privacy lines, but more than watching, I like to observe. Observe, note, learn. I’m a curious learner. I like breaking things and exploring that what lays underneath and maybe even propose my own thesis for the same. I know the limbless beggar who sits in front of the dargah near the Statebank Bus Depot isn’t just wishing for more people to fill his empty bowl but yearns for a conversation with someone, anyone about something, anything. I know the family at the bus stop who look nothing close to the generic brown Indians are tired of forever being the centre of people’s stares and perhaps even justifying their origin. I know the bearded cobbler near the RTO who doesn’t own a pair of shoes for himself, is laughing at universe’s shrewd show of irony. I know the lady who always wears her long grey hijab and marches everyday near the Pumpwell flyover, probably has more responsibilities than I could ever carry. I know the homeless family that lives in a shack, which by the way stands as a shame to be even called a shack, is cursing the creator because their women have to relieve themselves amidst watching eyes like mine. I am an A-grade sinner. A sinner who isn’t just intruding someone’s private space but also a sinner who draws up conclusions about plain strangers- judging them, applauding them, correcting them, dazed by them, irritated by them, proud of them, cursing them…. all in my head. People are all so alike yet so different, right? We are all beings made up of thousands of alike cells yet each of us are creators of such varied flavours of our own race. All of us share the basic daily activities of breathing, waking up, freshening up, rushing here, rushing there, filling our tummies, excreting shit, but even things as generic as these are coated with so many thick layers of variations, right? It is the very variations in everything around me that makes me fall in love with the idea of difference, the idea of diversity and the idea of people.