An Outskirt Bus Stop Bench

It was a cold winter night.

We were having dinner together at a place near the outskirts of the town. It was a party thrown by a colleague of ours to celebrate his promotion. He had become a Senior Analyst, finally.

 Most of our team members had come to celebrate this joyous moment of his life with him. And by the way! Who wants to miss a party where you get a lot to drink and dine yourself at the finest place of the town when all that is needed is a little praise and appreciation from your side?

After having filled our tummies up to the throat, and leaving a lot of food on the table as wastage, and once again wishing luck and happiness to our dear friend, most of the team members left. It was only three of us now: me, the guy who got a promotion, and one more of our dear friend.

We got out of the hotel after settling the bills, giving tip to the waiter and our not so important feedback to the manager.

As we stood outside for a while deciding what to do next (as if we didn't have a place to go already!), my eyes fluttered around the roadside in different directions.

It was a rather cold night. And it was raining snow as well (Though it was in my imagination, it felt literally as cold as snow), not that we were not ready prepared for that. We were already wearing our finest suits and jackets and other luxurious items.

"Let's go smoke," said the third friend in desperation, "It's really cold, let's go!"

Mind you! Cold was just an excuse. He needs a smoke every thirty minutes or so.

Making his intentions clear he already began to march in the direction of that little beetle shop at a walking distance. We two looked at each other with an obvious look and began to follow him.

I couldn't help admiring the surroundings. It is not every day when we squander empty roads in such devilish cold weather.

There was absolutely nothing in our minds to think of. Or perhaps I didn't feel like thinking anything at the moment. We were on the outskirts of town. No crowd at all. People would be scared to death to wander there in such scathing cold of nights.

The place was nearly empty. Not too many buildings and not many vehicles.

A little distance further, a hundred meters or more, my eyes traveled to the nearby bus stop. Although the city buses had already halted for the day, I thought I saw someone… There, upon the benches at the bus stop, I could make two or three humanly figures. From the distance, it appeared that they were sleeping on the benches with their bodies wrapped in thick blankets.

While my friends were busy mixing smoke with the fog in the surrounding air, I decided to walk a little closure to the stop.

In a short while, I reached there. And as I had a closer look at the picture, I forgot to let out my breath for the moment.

I couldn't think. The mind was blank. I couldn't move. I was petrified with some magical spell captivating the plight of the moment: The harsh bitter-sweet cruelty of humanity and the love of nature, I could see them both together.

There I saw two kids, lean and skinny, merely from the age of 6 to 8, sleeping on that bench.

One of the kids was wearing a dirty orange T-shirt torn from many places, and a dirty unzipped half pant. The other one was wearing an untidy, double of his size, full-sleeved, partly buttoned, checkered shirt of red and yellow color, and a partially ripped black pajama with holes here and there.

And nothing else was there to save them from the devilish cold of that night. There were no blankets that I thought I saw.

Even in this pitiful condition, I saw them having a good sleep and perhaps they were traveling in the dreamland of their fantasies. I can't even guess as to how their dreams look like? What do these kids might fantasize about? Are their dreams are the same as the dreams of any other kid? I don’t know.

While this half of the scene depicts the plight of humanity, the other half shows the love of nature overflowing and over flooding through every part.

Humanity might have turned its back to these kids. But nature had its own way of helping them and providing them warmth in this devilish cold.

The kids managed to sleep in such miserable conditions without having anything to warm and cover their bodies because they were not sleeping alone. There lay with them three stray dogs. Those thick blankets which I saw from the distance were actually the thick bodies of these dogs.

These dogs gave them cover to keep them safe from cold and at the same time protection from vile humans.

All five of them were sleeping together, wrapped in each other, fighting with the savage night.

There was nothing else I could think of but to admire the love and kindness of nature and its creatures.

There are a lot of such kids and people, whom we don't even consider them part of our universe. But they are there. And they do exist. Because there is someone out there, who loves them as much as they love us. Nature protects all.