The 'Lift' Man
Have you seen him before?
Who? You asked.
The 'Lift' man. Not spiderman or superman, just the Lift man.
He would be there in one of those lifts in the morning when I arrived, diligently wiping every bit and part of the lift cubicle, all six of them. Then the sliding door on each level of the building, from the basements to all the floors. He's there when I take the breaks or leak. He's there when I leave. All he needs is just a small pail with a wet cloth, a dispensing bottle with detergent.
Day in day out, he does the same routine over and again, scrubbing imaginary stain on the wall of the lift. He's probably from Bangladesh, the exporter of laborer of the world. I wonder how long he has been at it, and how much longer he will be doing it. Is he with his family? Has he ever felt homesick?
He probably has seen all the faces who work in this block, people who go up and down the floors using the lift day in day out.
Our life paths cross everyday yet we know nothing about the other person. A lonely city of lonely strangers.
3 comments:
To know everything about everyone is too much handle for mere mortals I guess. Most of the times, our eyes and ears are filtered...
To strangers, I just offer a simple smile.
A little hi will open up so much about people you never knew about. I used to see this Nepalese guard at the college lobby for the past 2 years. Only recently did I open up to him and find out more about who he is.
Life is really a tangled web of relationships. :)
Thank you William and Sam for your comment. Good thoughts for food. Life takes a turn at corners when we least expected.
Sam, re your blogspot, I am confused as there are owners to it. Are they the same person, you alter ego or what? :-)
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