Friday- Talent!

The walk from the Ashok pillar bus stop to my office is an eventful one. I am almost always on the phone during the 10-15 minute walk, but there is one thing that is always striking - the stench. There is a slum establishment on the way, and people exrete on the roads, and human excreta of all shapes and sizes and stench occupies the pavement. There is a similar establishment on my way back home, closer to home actually, that I cross in the bus everyday. Everytime I cross the place, almost half the people in the bus close their noses. Some wonder aloud. "How do these people live amidst this?!" I reply, "You get used to it". My reaction is always awe. I try and peep in to see what they have at home. There is always a TV. You can see women cooking. The interiors of the houses always look clean. And, everybody seems to know everybody else!! Now, these are real human beings with real lives. I think of all the apartments wherein a dead person was found only three days after the death because the stench from the decomposing body became overwhelming. People living among all the stench would have never let that happen.

Anyway, now, this place near my office was very colorful that day- some amman temple carnival(thiruvizhaa). That was when I saw them!! Kolams in all varieties- poo kolams, butterfly kolam, deepam kolams and what not! That was when I understood why they say everybody has some talent in them!