#WritcoAnthology
I settled down on a wooden bench and chose to relax for a bit. The evening walk ritual that I had begun some few years back, with lots of gusto had now turned stale. The park was close home, I listened to my choice of soulful and soothing music, and above all, I had my blood pressure and blood sugar to control.

But of late, to my dismay, I guess everyone else had taken to walking too. The park was now so very crowded, with people all around, speaking loudly on their cell phones, hurrying down the walking track with their eyes down texting, dashing into each other, cursing, tempers flying and the whole noble purpose of walking going for a toss.

The serenity of my walk and the park lost now, I sat down contemplating shifting my exercise regime to another venue. I watched a bunch of youngsters squatting on the grass, toying with their phones, holding hands, lost in a world of their own. Carefree, happy, their rucksacks on their backs… I envied them for their youth, for their blithe attitude. They weren’t earning for a family as yet, they didn’t have kids to chase, if only I was younger, if only I was their age…I made a silent wish.

“ Not walking today? Are you tired?” someone tapped my shoulder.

I turned around to find an old walking friend of mine, whom I addressed ‘Aunty’. Almost as old as my mom, the lady and I had been friends since the time I began visiting the park. She came every day, healthiest and jolliest of all. She was one amongst those rare non- cell phone enthusiasts , for whom an evening in the park still meant interacting with fellow human beings, greeting them all with a smile, relaxing on the benches after a while, gossiping about the younger generation at home.

I had immense respect for this lady, a nurturer, she had a solution for all our problems, domestic or health related. Her presence in the park everyday sort of helped me miss my mother less. As we weren’t related in any way, I found it easier to share my many woes with her. And she made everything look so uncomplicated, not only for me, but for many other ladies as well.

So that particular day, as she found me dejected, she kind of immediately guessed that my problem wasn’t exactly the ‘crowd.’ I was upset since the past few days about my kid’s studies and my own job, so obviously I was pre occupied and everything else felt sore. But it was incredible she fathomed, she was no psychiatrist after all. It was a life full of experiences, she told me then. I sighed, as she comforted me and waved me Good Bye.

A sudden commotion jolted me out of my string of thoughts, as I noticed a crowd gathering just outside the park. Like everyone else, I rushed out too, only to find Aunty crouched and bent over, right in the middle of the road. The traffic had come to a halt and there were people appraoaching her. But she sat there all silent and trembling heavily.

I gathered from what I could hear that it was hit and run. She was crossing the road and perhaps couldn’t hear the car horn. The driver couldn’t apply the brakes on time so he hit her and sped away. He had apparently tried to slow down, thankfully so. Aunty wasn’t physically injured much, she had bruised her elbows and knees, but there seemed to be no further damage.

But it was evident she was shaken. The trauma of falling down in the middle of the road, amidst loud commotion had obviously rendered her speechless. A few acquaintances like me hurried across and tried to pull her up, but she just sat there, all quiet, shivering from head to toe. Some offered water, many tried to talk and calm her down, we were kind of trying every means possible to raise her up and bring her to the pavement. But she resisted and we were finding it increasingly difficult, with all her weight falling on us. Though she kept silent, I could understand, she was still in shock.

It hurt me to see my beloved Aunty like this. A while ago, she had chatted up with me, unlike my family, she had made a sincere effort to bring me out of my worries and solve my problems. It had taken just a split of a second, to turn everything upside down and here she was now, at the mercy of others, unable to speak or fathom anything that was going on around her.

A tear pricked my eye and I desperately looked for the younger crowd. They were physically stronger, they could definitely help us middle aged ladies to pull aunty to the pavement.

And yes, I spotted the youngster group from the crowd, they were watching us too. I kind of opened my mouth to call out for help, but what I saw choked my sound mid- way.

They were chuckling, almost all of them in the group. Their head phones still lodged in their ears, I could actually see smiles on their faces, while some elderly gentlemen forcefully held Aunty’s legs and many of us held her arms tightly to bodily picked her up. None from the younger crowd came forward, letting alone offering to help.

Unable to take my eyes off the college group, I continued to stare and they, on their part, smiled on, at the ‘funny ‘ scene of a woman being lifted with difficulty. Of course, they merrily clicked pictures, recorded videos, what would a day be without something to gossip on social media?

Once Aunty was on the pavement and the traffic cleared, I somehow decided to give the teenagers an earful. But before I could call out to them , they were gone.

And then I thought, what good would my scolding do to them? They would perhaps laugh at me as well, make fun of me or worse still, answer me back.

They are the younger generation, the youth, the future, but that day, in their eyes, I couldn’t find an iota of compassion or sympathy. Just pure sarcasm and evil.

In this age of fast growing technology and faster paced life, is this what the world is coming to? Are we creating robots in the name of children? Greatly attached to their cell phones, or friends social media, stuck in a virtual world, but not a care about real human beings who mattered. Wonder how we have stooped so low.