Faces

" Trying to keep up with life's Pace,
I know thee not by your fame or name,
For you are to me just a Face"

Its surprising how some of our certain memories comprises of people in our life who are just a face to us and never a name.

While studying architecture in Mumbai during my undergrad years, I used to commute to college by bus, the bus stop being a rough seven minute walk from my place. In the mornings, I used to encounter an elderly couple out for their morning stroll. Over the years, their stride slowed down due to age but they used to continue their regime fervently. Then there was a man who used to feed the stray dogs on the road. Come rain or sun, he was there punctually every morning throwing biscuits and I bet every canine on the street knew him and vice-versa. On my way, I used to pass a small temple, outside which sat an old woman selling fresh flowers and garlands. She often used to press a couple of flowers in my hands and encourage me to study well, a gesture I came to cherish specially during exam time. At the end of the street a gang of students used to wait for their morning school bus. The children changed over the years but the school bus routinely stopped at that same spot every morning.

Thus these were the same set of people whom I encountered every day but never really stopped to talk to or get to know by their name. Just seeing their familiar faces everyday gave me a sense of familiarity and belonging. If I didn't see them on any day, I actually missed them. How do you miss someone whose first name is also not known to you? But I missed their smile, their wave, their face. At times I came to associate meeting some of them as a good omen and looked out for them on the days that I had some important tasks to accomplish. They became a part of my exclusive extended family in the neighbourhood.

I understood the actual depth of bonding with my stranger friends when one day, I came to know that the garland woman was dead. That's when I felt a deep sense of loss, grief and sorrow. That's when I also realized how such small mosaics of moments ultimately form the big picture of your life.