What one sees in Chennai...

9:30pm Chennai. I just walked out of the internet shop. 15Rs per hour. The connection was poor, but I’d gotten my hour’s worth. A few steps from the building’s entrance, I reach an intersection. A child, no older than 15 months is lying on the sidewalk, actually on the cement lid of a gutter hole, poorly wrapped in a torn into shreds sort of blanket. For a second, I stand above her, unable to move, unable to help, unable to take a picture. The girl’s eyes are closed. Her face is covered with soot and boogers. Her head is turned to the side. I can see a tiny foot and a tiny arm. This I know shouldn’t be, but it is. It is in more places than we’d like to acknowledge.

I reach for the camera, but feel rather uneasy about a direct shot. So, I take a few steps away from the street corner, pass a small group of homeless folks, an old woman seated cross-legged, a few children, ages between three and five, and two more shapes, one covered by a blanket, all clearly asleep on the sidewalk. I steal a picture to share this moment. You can see them, poor and homeless, the adults and the little girl, who couldn’t be older than 15 months.

I steal a picture because somehow the whole experience puts life into a different perspective from my ego-self-centered-usual-vintage point. Suddenly, I wonder what it was I was complaining about. Suddenly, I wonder what it is I am after. I wonder what it is I am sacrificing, what it is have been complaining about…

Mind you, this isn’t pity. We all have our trials to go through. And a roof above one’s head doesn’t equal peace of mind. There is sadness in me. There is disappointment in me. Sooner or later they will have to be faced, again. Sooner, reality has to be accepted, -again, and life has to be lived -again, as it is, truthfully, and with unwavering integrity -otherwise, why even bother?

Be well, count your blessings, and make sure to follow your heart.