The Friday Persona

Come Friday morning and he used to be present at our gates for alms. In fact, his visits were so regular that very often we used to realize the dawn of a Friday only by his presence. Lanky and dark, the shabby man well past his prime was always dressed in a tattered lungi and a full shirt which had seen better days. A makeshift bag created from old scraps of cloth was slung down his stooping shoulders. Perhaps it held all his worldly possessions that had been painstakingly collected through the passage of time…With an unsteady gait the bent skeletal figure tightly gripped the metal frame of the gate as though for support, and rattled the latch so as to announce his arrival to the household.

More than the sound made by the rattling of the latch, it was a deep hollow cough which made us aware of his arrival. As I went out with a few rupees in my hands, I would often witness acute spasms of dry, racking cough that would hit his frail body causing him to gasp for breath. He would accept the money that I handed out to him, acknowledge his gratitude by raising his bony hands to his forehead and depart as insignificantly as he came.

Some Fridays, he would be looking very ill, and as I went out to give him money, he would show me a medical prescription, indicating the need to buy medicines.  Some other days, it would be a wound on his leg which required a doctor’s attention. Then I had to go back to get some more money that I would hand over to him. But sometimes, in my hurry to finish off the morning’s chores before starting off to work, I would willfully choose to ignore the plea in his eyes. I would then see him slowly head towards other homes in our locality, anticipating the generosity of yet another household.

It has been a few months since his visits stopped and often I wonder why he seems to have disappeared… Could it be that he is too ill to move about to make money for his daily bread?
Could it be that he has relocated to another place to visit other homes every Friday?
Or could it be that he has finally found a blissful release from the miseries of this world?

Wish I knew….