I would wait for them to come and play in the park. It had become a part of my life to watch them have fun, fight, and patch up again. Sometimes I was the umpire for all the games that they played and I would gain some prominence by being the eldest amongst them. I enjoyed when they sought my advice. Two years is a long time to get heavily used to something, and now, with the new construction work in the locality, the park has actually been neglected, and primarily used as a dumping ground. It is sad that I do not see the young ones in that area and the bench where I used to sit, has also been uprooted. Sometimes I wonder what right do people have to interfere in our life and change it completely like never before. Isn’t it my life? Aren’t there sentiments attached to what I do everyday or how I spend my time.

The other day I received a letter in my name. It was from my old school. There was an alumni meet and I thought it was a great idea to socialize with old friends and pep up my dull life. I wore my best clothes and my cap and hailed a cab to my alma mater. There was a huge crowd at the gate and with much physical effort, I managed to reach inside. I looked around for old friends, acquaintances, and known faces, trying hard to recognize people amidst the crowd, but I had no success. Suddenly a gang of boys pushed me aside and went past me, and I was brushing myself up to gain a firmer foot on the ground. Today’s generation is always in a hurry, so much so as to push whatever comes in their way. Maybe I was a fool to have built up such high hopes from my visit to my school. It no more seemed mine that day.

It was a sunny day and while I was watering my plants, I heard a shrill horn at my door. It was my son, calling out to me from inside his car. He stayed with me until he got married and shifted to a new bungalow. I told him that I certainly do not mind it because the new place was closer to his office and my nephew’s school. Besides I had two servants to look after my needs. It did make a lot of sense to me when he said he wanted to shift elsewhere. Besides, when my grandson came rushing and gave me a big hug, I felt really wanted and got a new meaning to my life.

A friend of mine called me the other day. He wanted me to pay him a visit. He stays in an old home because his daughter-in-law made it very clear before her marriage that she believed in nuclear families, and her invalid mother should obviously get a preference over the son’s father to stay with them. Looking at my friend, I realized that perhaps I am doing much better in life. I do not have to depend upon anybody and my insurance schemes and pension would help me sustain myself on my own for as long as I breathe.

Loneliness at my age is very strange. Had I been young, I would have thought of many a ways to avert it. But when Meera, my wife, was keeping unwell last year, I knew that solitude was approaching my life gradually but steadily. There was nothing that I could do about it. Soon, the feeling of having nobody as a constant companion was felt after I began to live my life all alone.

The morning alarm rang. It was 5 30. I wanted to sleep more but I couldn’t. So, I woke up and made myself some tea. The milkman came and delivered a litre of milk.

The day had just begun.

Tags: life, story