The Canvas

I guess this now applies to me too. I was inadvertently trying to be cool yesterday, for some unknown reason, when I took a nasty fall as I was stepping down from the curb in the market near by.

It was cold, it was late, there were people but fortunately or unfortunately it was practically a deserted side of the market with poor, poor lighting. No one saw me fall, but a young woman in a car. The wheel of which I bumped into when I hit the ground. Probably she didn’t notice me fall, just realized something went missing all of a sudden and there was a thump on her car.

“App theek toa hain?” And followed it up with a, “Are you all right?”

“Jee, Allah ka shukar hai!” I murmured, cursing her for not moving an inch after opening the door to get a good look at me on the ground. Probably that inconsiderate person had some sinister fetish – watching people squeal on the ground while making sure they knew she knew some English.

No one except this one person who knew I fell, no one was watching me, no one cared whether I was there or not. I was just a simple boy gone out to get some groceries for home; how many boys/young men do that these days?

It is more of an ego shock that has troubled me since then. Oh so accurately diagnosed by Asma. The vanity and how it took me down with it. Guess I shouldn’t have strutted that way in the first place, God knows where and when that strut might end… Where is my tax money? I want some street lights! Argh, my ankle!

Having played a lot of football in recent years and cricket before that, I considered myself agile/fit enough to brave out a nasty fall like this one. Walk it off in a while, but honestly, this pain is out of my control, and I still haven’t visited a doctor/physician for it. I remember taking a lot of falls where the pain just subsided after a few hours or a few days – but this one seems the mother of all pains, for the moment.

But what would I know about pain? Today there were two bomb explosions early in the morning in the middle of Rawalpindi (the twin city of Islamabad), that has killed 15 people as reported recently. These people have lost their lives, their family members might have lost everything. What would I know about their pain? Their suffering? Is my condition worse of than their’s? I don’t think so. People who commit such heinous crimes at this level to show their anger and hate for others should take a little moment and think what they are about to do. What misery they are about to bring upon others and their families. The bombings were suicidal, and targeted at the Ministry of Defense and General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Behind this computer screen, this immobile person can only wish well for those who are in any sort of suffering all around the world and may God give me the power to bring happiness or just a smile for one moment to those sad faces, or just do it himself. Amen.

Can we ever be a happy people? That question and what it might be will make a good topic for another post.