The traffic was heavy as usual. I live close to several IT companies and it is normal for the roads to be busy. I somehow managed to take a U turn and get to the other side of the road. I was now ready to take on the entire stretch from Karapakkam to Shols. Karapakkam is where I live nowadays and Shols is where I work. Suddenly I noticed that I missed something. I brought my motorbike to a halt along the sidepath and decided to call my dad this time, to bring my id card. I thought of walking home, taking the foot overbridge to cross the road. The idea was that I could meet my dad halfway through.
I got down on the other side of the road. There are many possibilities of getting home and I took a left turn, one that I hardly take and started walking swiftly. At the end of the turn, there was something that caught my eye. A old lady sleeping on the side of the road. She resembled a bag of bones with a thin saree covering her from the top of her head to her legs. She had no pillow as her head and she laid crumpled on the ground.I met my dad half way through, took my id card and shared with him what I just saw.
I went back the same way and decided to give her some money. "Grandmother", I called her 3 times. She rolled the layers of saree from her head and looked at me. I tried to force my money to her hand. She did not seem interested but a little while later she took and hid it in her saree. I felt like she said she wanted something to drink. I did not have water, so I called my mom to check if it was possible to get some water. Then I left back to work with a sad heart.
After keeping a watch on her for quite a few hours, folks at home noticed that she did not not move from that place. When a background check was done on her, the nearby shop owner told that she had been lying there for the past 4 days. It sounded unfair. It had been raining heavily and sometimes it had been extremely warm. Who can survive in such weather conditions without food and shelter for so many days? She looked helpless. No one to care for her and no one to love her.There lay a packet of leftovers nearby her, probably someone had given her something to eat and she could not take it in. Vulnerability written all over!
Quickly, it was found that there is a home for the destitutes called "Little drops" in the outskirts of chennai. My brother dropped in to the police station to get a certificate(Memo) stating the reason why she needs to get into a destitute home. With help from other friends, she was helped into the back seat of the car where she lay down tired and weary.
It was decided in the late afternoon to drive her to the destitue home. I joined the ride being back from work. The old women began to talk as soon as she reached there. The staff working there told us that it normally happens that destitutes who hardly open the mouth to strangers start talking as soon as they enter into that home. Amazing! My name is alamelu, she said. It was a sigh of relief to know that she could understand and talk Tamil. Her rags were thrown away and she was given clean clothes. She got a bed to lay her head down and sleep. She need not fear for the weather conditions or food anymore. Wow! Thats hope written all over. She is safe. It doesn't matter if someone has left her on the streets to die helplessly or if she had mental problems. Although many people think its the former, however one thing is sure, she is loved, loved by God.
