The unknown morning walker

I was captivated by the sight of the mountain and valley of the Elagiri hills, last week, on a misty morning, when the sun suddenly turned the gloomy look into a visual feast of clouds gently embracing the summit of the hills. It held my attention for a while. I noticed a movement and bright white spot appearing in the distance, while watching through the telescopic lens. It was a man walking through the fields.

Who was this man! He obviously is a senior citizen, who was barely clothed for a winter morning of 15 degrees celsius. He walked with a stoop, revealing his advancing age. I followed him through my telescopic lens till he disappeared from my sight behind the bushes.

I suspect he was going into the village close by, where elderly people gather every morning at the tea shop for their regular news brief. Many such elderly daily farm workers have made this habit to meet in the morning to exchange news and views. Now with advancing age, most of them cannot work. They still continue meeting at the tea stall. The tea stall provides them tea at a subsidised cost as a tribute to them for being regular customers for several years.

Do they have someone to take care of them at home! Often not, as children have left home in search of better prospects rather than work in the farm for a meagre income. They have to walk three kilometres to fetch drinking water. The nearest Fair price shop is seven kilometres away. The old age pension which the state government provides sees them through for buying provisions for half a month, which they stretch for the whole month, making many suffer form malnutrition. The nearest primary health centre is 25 kilometres away from which they get a prescription for medicine, and not the free dispensing of medicines as the stock of medicines provided for a month do not last even for a week at the hospital.

They live lonely lives. The benefits of globalized economy and the development story are yet to reach them.

I was drawn to salute this unknown morning walker, as such farm workers ares the ones who produce vegetables and fruits in their kitchen garden to provide for the residents and tourists for this hill resort.  

This unknown walker is one among the four hundred million or more senior citizens in this country! Even he matters because, it is to such ones, tending their sheep in the field, came the announcement of the first Christmas two thousands years ago! He too is God's object of love. Has he become our object of love! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)