Tête-à-tête with our inner ‘Hamlet’- My original entry !!

Tête-à-tête with our inner ‘Hamlet’

Wearing pink on a gloomy Monday morning evidently doesn't cordon off Monday blues!! As the Monday morning rush soared, I hurriedly ran towards the bus stop to catch my bus to work. 

As I reached the bus stop, I gasped for breath, waited and revised my mental notes. That is when I incidentally caught sight of a street beggar. The sight was certainly not a pleasant one, but was, unappealing and awful. Howsoever, it did seem to be worth distracting myself from my ongoing train of thoughts. 

The beggar was ferociously moving his stick in the air, as if; he was trying to propel something that was invisible to my naked eyes. All this while, he rested his emaciated frame on the pavement of a busy intersection. The glimpses he got were decked with remorse, pity and mercy. His shabby and ragged appearance was making his presence apparent and that's how he could catch attention of the passersby easily. The glances were full of remorse, pity, mercy and disgust. Lying there, he murmured and whispered a few words in the air and looked blank. His tone of voice was acoustic and I felt as if he was screeching. He was unmoved by the presence of onlookers and hence was lost in his own abstract and mystical world. He would often scratch his nose, lick his upper lip, squint his eyes and stretch his earlobe irrespective of the people around.

Within few minutes, I saw a middle aged man with athletic frame (henceforth mentioned as 'Visitor') approaching this beggar. It seemed as if he had just returned from morning walk. He paused, gave the beggar a fish-eye gaze and instantly decided to indulge in a Tête-à-Tête  with the poor soul. He shared a seat with the beggar on the same barren pavement. The visitor maneuvered his seat close enough to get a close look at him and ponder.

The visitor offered him a hand shake which the beggar turned down effortlessly. Following this, the beggar moved himself away from the visitor to a safe distance after sensing some danger. However, the visitor with his warm and affectionate smile was able to break the ice between the both. Visibly, they struck a conversation almost immediately and started laughing as if they were long lost friends and had just met out of the blue. 

Following this, suddenly I saw the beggar getting restless as he made a rigorous effort to locate something out from his torn and weary clothes. Soon, I saw him holding a cigarette in his left hand. To my sheer surprise, I saw his visitor lighting his cigarette for him. Within seconds, the beggar moved back into his own trance with eyes wide open. It was time for him to make merry as he had a (his) visitor!! Both of them seemed to strike chemistry by then. Meanwhile, the visitor started searching pockets in his track suit for a dime but was unable to find one. Finally, after much of efforts, he was able to bring out some dry-fruits. He daringly offered them to the beggar. To my sheer surprise, the beggar out rightly refused to have them and slipped back into his trance.

This incident left an ever lasting impact on me. I realized, how a person can be united with the world, yet be so separated enough!! 

Even if, this street beggar had a mortal existence, he could still separate himself from the whims and fancies of this materialistic world. Even when he was offered a delicacy that he could not enjoy otherwise in the world considering his meager existence, all he could do was to refuse to accept it without an ounce of regret at all. Ironically, we, the runners of this worldly rat race, desperately yearn and long to immerse ourselves in the worldly delights. We often tend to turn a deaf ear or a blind eye to the existence of that 'Hamlet' inside us. Hamlet, which enlightens us as to how to remain out of the worldly entangles in this gregarious world.

This was the original write-up I had sent as Newspaper entry. However, it was abridged to accommodate the available space. Here-in also attaching the write up in paper.