One usual afternoon, after two
weeks of roaming around for the necessary stuff like University registration,
Student card and searching an apartment to settle in the Strasbourg city, I
boarded onto a tram from Gare Centrale, towards Illkirch, unaware of the
consciousness that was guiding me towards the right direction.
I could hear the tram doors slide
close behind me. I was tired, perhaps not from the stuff I have been doing
after my arrival in France, but from the chaos I have been living and facing
since last couple of years. My eyes searched for a place to sit and they found
one in front of an old woman. As soon as I arrived at that seat, an old man
sitting next to the old woman stared at me with his strange dull eyes and kept
his cane on the seat in front of him, the one next to me. It acted as a kick to
bring me back from my dreamland.
Did the person just put his cane
on the front seat just to avoid me from sitting there?
‘Yes he did’, I answered to my
own question.
I gazed at his more than eighty
year old eyes. I could see nothing, but irritation. I passed a smile without
being reciprocated. He stared back at me with the determination that he is not
letting me sit near the window. I was not trying to. The old man was indeed
very old. He was sporting an Ushanka, a Russian winter cap, but seemed to be
French. He cleaned overflowing saliva from his lips with the tissue tucked in
one of his fists. At times, he would simply suck it back from the sides of his
mouth, instead of cleaning with the tissue. Skin has left the hair roots on his
wrist as the retreating tide leaves the beach to dry and become the dead sand. His
sight rivalled feelings of disgust and pity in my head. I realized that the old
woman on my front seat has left, only when the man shifted to her seat, now
directly facing me, instead of the earlier diagonal position.
Somebody giggled and my attention
and thoughts shifted to the other side of the tram. They were a bunch of
teenagers, teasing each other in French, probably over the pimple marks, half
of them were developing and rest half will probably develop soon. The old man
seemed to be unaware of their presence so did the teenagers of his and mine
presence around them. Then it occurred to me, that he noticed them before I
did. This is why he shifted his seat, in order to not let them sit near him and
with this he shifted his cane to seat, he has been occupying earlier.
The chemistry among teens soon
turned into a fun rift. One of them pushed the other two and they would have
hit the old man’s head from the back. To my surprise, the old man avoided the
impact by moving ahead on his seat, as if he could see what is happening behind
his back. I wondered what he will do next. I did not have to wait for too long
to see the action from his side. He turned slowly and scared the teens with his
cane.
I wondered if I just saw a smile
on his face, instead of anger, but I was not sure. The teens have got their toy
by this time. They started to dance and shout as soon as the old man sporting
the Ushanka turned his back on them. They will shout, come very near to him,
but will remain far enough to be away from his reach. The man showed his cane
once or twice again, but it just boosted the teens. The old man got up and
balanced himself on his cane. All the teens, except one, ran to the other side
of the tram. The other teens watched him from a distance. The old man tried to
hit the teen with his cane, without any success. This probably boosted the
courage of teen with the pimple marks. He became louder. For the next few
minutes the old man sporting the Ushanka and the teen with the pimple marks
danced on each other tunes. I wanted to get up and shout on the teens,
nevertheless something inside me made me feel that this is all right and I
remain unmoved. I happened to look at my reflection in the glass window and I
saw a faint hint of smile on my face. The old man’s movement to get the teen,
promoted from feeble to decent attempts, but they were still just attempts.
“Next Station, ‘Leclerc’”,
announced the programmed computer voice of the tram. The teen needed to get down there
and therefore moved towards the door. The old man like an experienced hunter
was waiting for his prey to fell right into his trap. The teen managed to hit
the open button without getting hit, but could not get out. Then he rushed
towards the open exit with full energy. The kid was sure in old man’s reach and
there was enough time and he hit the teen, only to be able to touch the sleeve
of his jacket. The teen got out, turned back, enough to be away from the cane’s
reach and made a duck face. The old man looked at him and the doors slid back
to close. The old man kept standing there, with his cane’s support for another
couple of minutes.
He came back and took his seat
and smiled at me. He definitely smiled at me. I could see life in his old dull eyes.
I closed my eyes, only to open them an instant later to confirm that I
understand. We both smiled in unison. He got down at next station. I waved a
good bye at him and he reciprocated with a big smile.
I found the answer to my puzzle,
over my own anger; I have been trying to answer since last few days.
Tak.
