Lily
Lily was walking down the road. It was late in the night. She had to work late.”It is already 8.00pm.Lily; do you guarantee we will see the final draft tomorrow? We cannot default on this", said Prem, senior colleague and boss. "Yes, Don’t worry about that. It will be done." "Ok! I'm leaving for the day now. Make sure it is done before you leave". And so Lily was there in office, tapping away at the computer, preparing the final draft for tomorrow's presentation. 1.30 am.. 2.00am "Ok, the draft looks fine. I guess I should leave now" she muses. She looks around,"anyone else stuck till this time like me? ... Well I guess not.... not everyone is as stupid ". She smiles to herself.”After all everyone else has families to go back to ... not Lily ... Lily is single.. So she can work late!" " Thank you very much ... but I am human! " "Why don’t you tell them that?" "Aw forget it ... nobody will understand! Plus I don’t want to be branded as a fusspot.. Who refuses to do stuff because she is a girl.. I want to prove that I am hardworking and just as capable irrespective of my sex" " Yeah! And bend backwards and let everybody walk all over you!" "Shut up!" She played these arguments with herself in her mind as she walked out of her office.
As she approached the Taxi stand, she was quite surprised. Not a single Taxi in sight. "How come? Usually this place has more taxis than commuters. After all the night charge is lucrative." A call to the cab service went unanswered. "What the hell? Is the whole city dead at this time?” a stray quiver ran down her back. She decided to walk home; home wasn't too far away anyways. She did feel slightly strange walking down the deserted streets. She was used to working late, but she always took a cab home, and the streets never felt so deserted, no matter what the time was. Today she felt she was the only one walking down the street, she felt strangely alone. The sound of her footsteps seemed to echo right till the end of the road. Lily mentally cursed the day she shifted to a house further away from office, just because it was bigger and more comfortable.
Lily continued walking, down the road, which seemed longer and longer. “Relativity! That is what...” she couldn't continue her train of thoughts. She noticed an old lady walking along side her. “Sorry! I never noticed you coming along" this was quite unlike Lily, who rarely spoke much now a days, even rarer spoke out of context and never spoke to strangers. Most of her conversations went on in her head only. The old lady turned to look at Lily. There was something disturbingly familiar about her, but Lily could not place a finger on it. “I am very quiet when I walk”, replied the old woman, softly. She seemed well built, was a sure beauty, in her heydays, but seemed slightly bent over. She was carrying a big heavy bag... strange, as she seemed to be pretty well off. “She can have servants to lift that for her”, Lily thought to herself, “May be I should help her”. “You cannot help me”, said the old lady, as if reading right into her thoughts, “this is my burden, I alone have to carry it”, she continued softly. Her voice almost drowning in the echo of Lily’s footsteps. Some how Lily felt close to the Lady, may be it was the silence, the night and the fact that the two of them were stuck in the same situation. “So how come you are here at this time ….” ..Lily gradually eased into a conversation with her. Suddenly she found her self talking … like everything inside her was bursting out like a dam has been removed, the deepest hurt , the pain of her life the angst , felt it all flowing out of her as she spoke. She felt the old woman relating to everything she said. It was good to talk to some one.
Lily was curious about the bag the lady was carrying. “if you don’t mind me asking, what is in that bag?”, asked Lily. The old lady looked at her, but as she looked, Lily felt that she was looking into her soul. There was something familiar about her… “Lily, you do not want to know what is in it.” , she said. “I do”, insisted Lily, “why wont you let me carry it?”
“Because … Lily…. you will be carrying it anyway … later in your life.. for the rest of your life… in fact you are already carrying quite a lot of it now … you cannot feel it because you can still bear the weight … ”, quivered the old lady’s soft voice ….. “Don’t you see Lily.. Who I am?” “Who are you?”, no sooner had those words left Lily’s lips that realisation dawned on her…….. “You … are me!!” “Yes dear, I am you. Look at me Lily… and you are looking at yourself, but not now … many, many years later”, she smiled a wrinkled smile. “And in this bag are dead things… long dead and gone. These are the dead bodies of all your hopes.. Hopes that you had held dearly in your heart… hopes that never got fulfilled. All your broken dreams, all your pains, all your hopes that died … that never saw the light of day, all that you had buried deep into the recesses of your heart.. to forget forever and move on. Do you think, they really went away …. You have carried them around …. Even though you do not know it..”, continued the old woman. Lily was at a loss for words, rooted to the spot she was standing on. “ Don’t be afraid Lily, this is Life .You will come out strong … strong enough to carry the burden. In this world no body has ever understood you, but I have , because I am you.”, So saying , she slowly walked away into the darkness. Lily … she could not move … though she wanted to call her back.. to run after her .. to ask her so many questions… she just stood staring into the darkness………
“Lily ! L I L Y ! !“
“Wake up Lily !”
It was the office cleaner , Auntie Monie.
“ What happened? Why do you work so late .. you slept off at your desk …..”
As she approached the Taxi stand, she was quite surprised. Not a single Taxi in sight. "How come? Usually this place has more taxis than commuters. After all the night charge is lucrative." A call to the cab service went unanswered. "What the hell? Is the whole city dead at this time?” a stray quiver ran down her back. She decided to walk home; home wasn't too far away anyways. She did feel slightly strange walking down the deserted streets. She was used to working late, but she always took a cab home, and the streets never felt so deserted, no matter what the time was. Today she felt she was the only one walking down the street, she felt strangely alone. The sound of her footsteps seemed to echo right till the end of the road. Lily mentally cursed the day she shifted to a house further away from office, just because it was bigger and more comfortable.
Lily continued walking, down the road, which seemed longer and longer. “Relativity! That is what...” she couldn't continue her train of thoughts. She noticed an old lady walking along side her. “Sorry! I never noticed you coming along" this was quite unlike Lily, who rarely spoke much now a days, even rarer spoke out of context and never spoke to strangers. Most of her conversations went on in her head only. The old lady turned to look at Lily. There was something disturbingly familiar about her, but Lily could not place a finger on it. “I am very quiet when I walk”, replied the old woman, softly. She seemed well built, was a sure beauty, in her heydays, but seemed slightly bent over. She was carrying a big heavy bag... strange, as she seemed to be pretty well off. “She can have servants to lift that for her”, Lily thought to herself, “May be I should help her”. “You cannot help me”, said the old lady, as if reading right into her thoughts, “this is my burden, I alone have to carry it”, she continued softly. Her voice almost drowning in the echo of Lily’s footsteps. Some how Lily felt close to the Lady, may be it was the silence, the night and the fact that the two of them were stuck in the same situation. “So how come you are here at this time ….” ..Lily gradually eased into a conversation with her. Suddenly she found her self talking … like everything inside her was bursting out like a dam has been removed, the deepest hurt , the pain of her life the angst , felt it all flowing out of her as she spoke. She felt the old woman relating to everything she said. It was good to talk to some one.
Lily was curious about the bag the lady was carrying. “if you don’t mind me asking, what is in that bag?”, asked Lily. The old lady looked at her, but as she looked, Lily felt that she was looking into her soul. There was something familiar about her… “Lily, you do not want to know what is in it.” , she said. “I do”, insisted Lily, “why wont you let me carry it?”
“Because … Lily…. you will be carrying it anyway … later in your life.. for the rest of your life… in fact you are already carrying quite a lot of it now … you cannot feel it because you can still bear the weight … ”, quivered the old lady’s soft voice ….. “Don’t you see Lily.. Who I am?” “Who are you?”, no sooner had those words left Lily’s lips that realisation dawned on her…….. “You … are me!!” “Yes dear, I am you. Look at me Lily… and you are looking at yourself, but not now … many, many years later”, she smiled a wrinkled smile. “And in this bag are dead things… long dead and gone. These are the dead bodies of all your hopes.. Hopes that you had held dearly in your heart… hopes that never got fulfilled. All your broken dreams, all your pains, all your hopes that died … that never saw the light of day, all that you had buried deep into the recesses of your heart.. to forget forever and move on. Do you think, they really went away …. You have carried them around …. Even though you do not know it..”, continued the old woman. Lily was at a loss for words, rooted to the spot she was standing on. “ Don’t be afraid Lily, this is Life .You will come out strong … strong enough to carry the burden. In this world no body has ever understood you, but I have , because I am you.”, So saying , she slowly walked away into the darkness. Lily … she could not move … though she wanted to call her back.. to run after her .. to ask her so many questions… she just stood staring into the darkness………
“Lily ! L I L Y ! !“
“Wake up Lily !”
It was the office cleaner , Auntie Monie.
“ What happened? Why do you work so late .. you slept off at your desk …..”
