rolling along

So I'm finally twenty, after seeing everyone else get there before I did, and it's nothing great, especially if you've to study for exams. Some things never change. Other things do, like my very happening block.

Two doors away, an Indian man aged 79 died. Blue chairs line the already narrow corridor, and everytime you walk past, 5 pairs of eyes follow you, and you try not to stare back; instead you sneak a glance into the house, and notice the body wrapped in a white shroud, an altar-looking thingy at the body's head. You feel a bit sad, because everyone is talking among themselves at the table, and the body is ignored, largely.

(Although it isn't very large. Somehow people look smaller in death.)

He used to walk with his cane up and down the corridor. I would see him when I was rushing for school, or coming back at night. He never spoke, only smiled, and even that was rare. Most of the time he would be standing in the corridor staring out at the next block, and I wondered what was there to look at.

(Maybe he was just bleeding time away, waiting for the last hour to kill.)

I didn't see the funeral - am not that voyeuristic - but I heard a weird sound, made by a trombone I think. It sounded like a honking elephant. And it went on for quite a while, while I stared blankly at my "Culturally Competent Practice" social work notes. But it did have a sort of village feel to the thing. I could visualise the elephants. I think it's a much better sounding funeral than maybe the Chinese ones. Those are a bit raucous.

(Personal preference, no racist intent...More importantly, no intent to get Sedition Act-ed. )

Now the body has gone, the people are still milling around, taking up space in the corridor, a heap of shoes next to the door. (Literally a heap. You cannot distinguish any pairs.) Some guys stand around the steps and smoke.

There is a strange strained silence shrouding the level, and perhaps it is good to soak in the sobriety for a while before we are hit by the bright Christmas lights and the carols rocked beyond repair.