Sunset Boulevard

Some old men and women were sitting around a dining table with helpers assisting them with laying the food and passing it from person to person when an old person walked in wearing a kurta, colourful lungi, a turban and flip-flops. One of the women seated, visibly agitated, got up and started shouting

How can you come to the dining hall wearing a lungi? Don’t you know there are women around?

Anna, please calm down. It is ok. Let him come and eat…Said the person seated next to her.

Calm down, my foot! I was told that this is a world class facility for old people. We are paying through our noses and we expect civilized people to be around and not utter ganwaars who walk in wearing loin cloths. It is completely unacceptable.

What is wrong with my clothes? I am fully dressed. This mad woman is talking as if I have walked in wearing my inners. And yes, you are right that I am a villager and ganwaar and have not had the privilege of studying in private institutions where civility is equated with clothes people wear and not with the language they use and how they behave with others.

Saying this, the old man turned around and walked back to his room. After some time an attendant carried food to his room in a tray but returned without delivering it as the door seemed bolted from inside and no amount of knocking helped.

Others at the table just sat quietly, finished dinner and returned to their respective rooms without the usual post dinner card games and television session together. No one seemed to be in a mood for these light hearted activities.

The fight between Anna and Harbans was quite a usual phenomenon at the Windsor Old Age Home at Manali. This was one of the finest places for old people who could afford such amenities and could match any five-star hotel. Most residents were the left behind parents of children who had gone westwards and had done well for themselves. It was always about Anna complaining and making a fuss about the language Harbans used, the jokes he would crack, the way he would eat with his hands instead of using knives and forks, the way he dressed…..all of it seemed extremely crude and rustic for her, one who had been brought up in a civil servant’s house, studied in Woodstock School at Mussoorie and worked as CEO of a multi-national pharma company.

Anna’s room was adjacent to Harbans’. After retiring to her room in her motorized wheel chair, she gulped down a handful of medicines and went to her bed. On the table beside was a book that she picked up and switched on the reading light. She just could not concentrate on the written lines for her mind was going back to the incident at the dining room. For once she felt remorseful as the man had gone to bed without having his food.

Maybe, I should go up to him and say sorry. I know he goes for a night stroll everyday so when he comes out tonight, I will talk to him.

Anna kept her door ajar waiting to catch any sight or sound of movement outside. Just then she heard the bolt of the room next door unlatch and then a loud crash of someone falling down. She slid out of the bed, took time to move into her wheelchair and then wheeled out to see Harbans lying on the floor. She saw his eyes were wide open and froth oozing out of his mouth. She had seen these signs before when her husband, Benny, had a stroke many years ago. Unfortunately, by the time the doctor came and Benny was taken to the hospital, the golden hour had passed and Benny’s left side was completely paralyzed. He suffered for many years in bed. Anna quit her high profile job and dedicated all her time, taking care of him. This went on for almost five years and then Benny lost the battle. Their only son, Sam, had distanced himself from his parents over his choice of girl and her faith. Anna, unlike others at Windsor, could afford the place on her own.

Anna immediately called for the ambulance and also contacted the in-house consultant doctor who came for their regular health check-up and fixed up with the local hospital. Harbans was rushed off. Anna saw the ambulance drive away and she once again went back to her room.

Will I have this death on my hands today? Possibly my shouting and missing the dinner may have led to the man’s taking ill so suddenly. She stayed up that night, praying and calling up the hospital intermittently, to check on the patient’s condition but didn’t get much response.

Next morning, at breakfast, when all had gathered, the manager informed them that Harbans was responding to medication but it was too early to say anything more. His daughter, at Toronto, had been informed night before and she should be here by tomorrow. Satyadev, an octogenarian, who was loved and respected by all at the home spoke up…

Let us pray together for our colleague Harbans and hope he gets well soon.

All of them held each other’s hands and quietly said their prayers. Anna, too, joined the table mass. This went on for almost a week at all meals and with every day the news that would come from the hospital was positive. From being in danger to out of danger and then under observation and, finally, shifting to the ward from the ICU were relayed religiously and it seemed the prayers were working and Anna was feeling somewhat relieved.

Harbans returned to Windsor Home and his daughter Della was with him for a few days. One evening, Della came to Anna’s room.

Thank you so much Auntie. Had you not called for the ambulance in time my father would have become a vegetable. Most of our relatives migrated to Canada over the years but my father refuses to join us. He says, he was born here and he will die here as well and not in any other land.

After a while Della left. Anna heaved a sigh of relief after the conversation. Surely, the man had not told his daughter about his fighter cock of a neighbour. Next few days were uneventful and happiness had returned to the home. Harbans stayed in his room and all, except Anna, would go to his room at least once a day to spend some time with him. Anna felt that her going would spoil his mood and there was always a chance of her losing her head for some reason or another.

One evening, Anna was out in the lawn admiring the blue sky, the flying birds and a barren tree that she she somehow took a liking to. It was looking so good that she felt like capturing it for eternity and opened up her mobile flap to take a picture. She focused and started clicking when the phone slipped out of her hands and fell on the grass below. She bent down to pick it up but could not reach it. A bearded man in kurta, pyjama and mojri came from behind to pick it up and hand it to Anna. She looked up to say thank you and saw it was Harbans. She lost her voice but fortunately was able to smile and nod her head in appreciation. He smiled back and quietly stood behind her as she gazed up and took some pictures. As she was about to switch on the motor of her wheel chair, he signalled her with his hand to stop and then gently started pushing her forward. Slowly, they inched towards the building and finally he drove her to her room. Anna was blushing all this while and quite enjoying this company and the ride.

You read a lot of books….he said on surveying her room that was neatly stacked up with books.

Yes. I like reading. Currently, I am reading poems by Naaz. I can relate to her loneliness and pain that she expresses in her poems. She puts so much meaning in her few lines that makes me think deep.

Harbans smiled and then took her leave….Good day and see you again tomorrow. Hope you do not mind my company sometimes.

No not at all. You’re welcome. I look forward to seeing you again.

Harbans returned to his room. He too was feeling happy…very happy. It almost seemed like meeting his first crush back in his native Moga. He walked up to his table and pulled out a diary and his fountain pen to start writing.

Oh times of loneliness
Is it time to bid thee good bye?
Oh times of bitterness
Is it time for betterness?
Met you today once more
Discovered myself again
Will love blossom once more
Will the desert rose bloom again
How I wait for tomorrow to come
Long to see the setting sun
Together, you ahead
And me behind
Oh sweet enemy of mine
Wish you Happy Valentine

Naaz
14/02/2022

 SS