Waiting for the bus, she watches the mother holding her young infant close to her chest and kiss the forehead. She feels the preciousness of that moment. Wondering if the child will ever remember this moment. Growing up in an orphanage she doesnt remember a time when she was hugged or kissed in tenderness. "Ah, on a pity trip are you?" goes her mind. "Poor you. Right?"
Life at the orphanage was routine, there was playtime, mealtime, studytime and bedtime. Everything neat and tidy, just like her life. A neat, one bedroom apartment with a kitchen, a place for everything she had, with a routine in place. An accountant's job at a well to do firm, with a neat boss, good pay and remuneration. Theres nothing she wants that she cant have. Or so it seems to everyone around her.
Sitting crosslegged on her bed, she leafs through the snapshots of her life. College life, graduating with honours, getting the 1st rank in the University's Bachelor of Commerce program. School life, at 7 winning the painting competition, at 12 winning the track and field championship . The painfully thin, storked legged, little girl, 5 or 6 years old, standing with 15 other kids of different ages.
She was told she had come to the orphanage at around 2-3 years of age after being found wandering outside an abandoned building. No one came to claim her. None, who came looking to adopt a baby, wanted her either. How could no one want Me? she wonders.
At 27, unmarried, unattached, she wonders what was really wrong with her? Is she doomed to live alone? She isnt a beauty queen but she isnt ugly either. She doesnt have any vice except for the two cups of coffee a day. She is easy to get along with, her boss is happy with her work, so were the teachers, nurses and administrators at the orphanage. She is generous of heart. Nevermind, goes her mind as she quietly turns the lights off and retires for the night.
The next morning, as she waits at the bus-stop, a man smiles and walks up to her with a note in hand and says "Could you tell me which way to get to this address". She reads the note and begins to sign the directions with her hands. The man looks at her dumbfounded. His smile vanishes, he looks at her like she just landed from Mars. He says "I am sorry, its alright, I will find it myself" and walks away thinking "Man, she's so beautiful and she had to be Mute?" Standing at the bus-stop she thinks "wow! what a beautiful smile. If only..."
She gets into the bus, sits in an empty seat and ponders her empty life. The question circling her mind- Why me? why?
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