What is it about her...???

I see her through our kitchen window- she is there everyday, unchanging, doing the same things she does everyday, going about her work-oblivious of the world around her. As I peer out again, I see her standing in a violet saree and a yellow blouse. As she crouches her saree moves a few notches up her slim legs. She brushes away a lock of hair that falls across her face and carries on like everyday.

It is then that I see more carefully and see that beneath that wrinkled skin and the poker face is a strange and almost mystical sadness. Sometimes as she is engrossed in her chores, she senses somebody’s gaze on her and she looks up sharply and for a brief instant we lock eyes-enough to make me recoil feeling guilty and mortified. Her withered body speaks of times of hardship. She lives in the house opposite, with the owners and does the work around the house. She must be about 65-70 years old and I have seen mom talk to her.

What draws me to her is that it seems as if she has almost come to terms with her loneliness and inexplicably, that scares me and yet paradoxically, also entices me.

Ouch! Just burnt my hand on the non-stick pan. Damn!!!