A Limp to Remember

Soofi rambled across filthy streets in the diffused light of the evening, when the sun had turned crimson and the crescent moon was a faint white. Yes, Soofi had always loved walking in the evening and it gave him a time to collect his thoughts and feel the heartbeat of the outside world, to which he seemed to be a mere spectator. Soofi stayed indoors all day long working on his first book. He had shut himself out from the unrelenting gaze , the shameless giggles and the loud clamour of the chaotic world.

It was one such ‘walk’ that had reduced his ‘walk’ to a ‘limp’. A car driven by a kid( a kid who should’ve driven bicycles instead) accompanied by his father were responsible for such a state. A stream of blood, flowed out. Soofi, the silent one, yelled out a deafening scream and almost had fainted. Soofi, the one without a family, suddenly found himself surrounded by a sea of people. For a few it was concern and for the rest it was an opportunity, maybe a source of entertainment (the much celebrated Indian way). A pugnacious gentleman even found it as an opportunity to vent out his frustration and he slapped the car driver and his son. There were a couple of people who tried to add fuel to make an ugly argument even more ugly.

A moment later, he found himself recuperating on a white bed in a hospital. He had been transported in the same car by the father-son duo. The duo was lucky that they hit a poor cynic , whose expectations from the world were so low that he actually felt thankful to them for getting him to the hospital.

Soofi was lucky that he reached the hospital in time to save his life, but not the spring in his stride.

The father-son duo met him a week later. There was no sign of remorse in their eyes. The father offered him an explanation. He told him that his son was not that tall enough that his foot could reach the brake and passed on a sheepish smile. The father also showed him his son’s license. The child looked barely 12. The license showed his age to be 22.

Now Soofi doesn’t go for his evening walk. Soofi now goes for his evening limp. And along comes a society that keeps limping on.