I am sitting at a
coffee shop in a decently crowded mall. I can see a lot of families , parents
with their kids , husbands and wives, grand parents and grand children looking
at the myriad displays of toys, jewellery, sarees, books, home furniture. Many
look past the windows and some enter. Many find the stuff expensive, few pay up
and leave.
At the coffee shop is a man. Aged 30-35 probably . I notice he wears a hearing
aid. I know that he cant hear me. Ive been to this place too many times now. I
remember him. I ‘enunciate’ the word ‘ cappuchino’ . He nods his head. I add
‘small’. He half nods. Im not sure he heard me. I use my hands to demonstrate.
I make a C with a palm of my hand and I say ‘ small’ He nods in affirmation,
quite confidently this time. I take a seat.
I see a young 27-28 year old woman arrive with a man by her side. They look like a couple, unmarried. She wants Tea. They don’t really know why this man at the counter is not able to understand her. He write down the word “ tea? Tea bag is available”. She asks him a few more questions by writing on a piece of paper. And now he knows what she wants. Hes struggling, but he looks very confident. Not a hint of unsurety.
I look at him and I look at me. His loneliness must be so much worse than mine I imagine. At least my loneliness can be escaped for a while by all this noise. I can escape with music, by theatre, by the sound of my own voice and the sound of other people’s too. I can escape the depths of darkness and the Silence that I dread, by filling up life with as much noise as I can. Can he? What does he do when he wants to talk to someone and express his deepest fears and joys? What does he do when he’s so angry and hurt, when all that he needs to do to let it out is scream and shout? How does he sincerely, continuously work every single day, without the music to pep him up when he’s travelling or to calm him down when hes tired and frustrated. He’s as much human as you and me. Im sure he struggles to live with constant hopelessness of extraordinary life, extraordinary love and extraordinary lifestyle.
As I see him relentlessly working through all the work he’s been doing as I write; I wonder if he has faith. I wonder if he worries so much about a future he hasn’t seen and about a present hes probably not very happy with. Is he happy about where he is? Does he believe that life will get better as he goes along? Does he live in faith and hope, believing that God is looking after him. God wont disappoint him, that he will have everything he truly wishes for and prays for, if they are in God’s plan that is. God never disappoints, He has the best plans always. Hes working with so much sincerity; so much love. Maybe God wants us to have patience sometimes. The best things come to us when we wait. And Maybe the man in the coffee shop behind the counter is doing just that. How little faith we have, how little love.
I see a young 27-28 year old woman arrive with a man by her side. They look like a couple, unmarried. She wants Tea. They don’t really know why this man at the counter is not able to understand her. He write down the word “ tea? Tea bag is available”. She asks him a few more questions by writing on a piece of paper. And now he knows what she wants. Hes struggling, but he looks very confident. Not a hint of unsurety.
I look at him and I look at me. His loneliness must be so much worse than mine I imagine. At least my loneliness can be escaped for a while by all this noise. I can escape with music, by theatre, by the sound of my own voice and the sound of other people’s too. I can escape the depths of darkness and the Silence that I dread, by filling up life with as much noise as I can. Can he? What does he do when he wants to talk to someone and express his deepest fears and joys? What does he do when he’s so angry and hurt, when all that he needs to do to let it out is scream and shout? How does he sincerely, continuously work every single day, without the music to pep him up when he’s travelling or to calm him down when hes tired and frustrated. He’s as much human as you and me. Im sure he struggles to live with constant hopelessness of extraordinary life, extraordinary love and extraordinary lifestyle.
As I see him relentlessly working through all the work he’s been doing as I write; I wonder if he has faith. I wonder if he worries so much about a future he hasn’t seen and about a present hes probably not very happy with. Is he happy about where he is? Does he believe that life will get better as he goes along? Does he live in faith and hope, believing that God is looking after him. God wont disappoint him, that he will have everything he truly wishes for and prays for, if they are in God’s plan that is. God never disappoints, He has the best plans always. Hes working with so much sincerity; so much love. Maybe God wants us to have patience sometimes. The best things come to us when we wait. And Maybe the man in the coffee shop behind the counter is doing just that. How little faith we have, how little love.
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