Odd

He was the odd one out!
Sitting by the roadside,
Day and night.
Defying the weather
One could always find him
With his dirty, smelly clothes
And two large dark eyes shining through
a tangled mess of grey hair and beard.
He sat with his eyes always glued
To a newspaper.
God alone knew what he read all day long!
 
People who passed him;
Some took pity and threw a few coins as alms.
Some simply made fun of him
And asked him what was he reading.
Some simply smiled or laughed
At this odd man and walked away.
 
They considered him odd, mad!
He was not like them-
Not in a rat race;
Rushing to work every day,
Stretched for time.
They considered him odd,
Because he seemed to have no hunger
For material things.
He never begged anything from anyone and
seemed happy with what people offered.
They considered him odd
Because he was not the one
immersed in a mobile phone
With bowed head and
Instead had an old newspaper to pore over.
 
The day the heavens opened
And it seemed as if the rains
Would submerge the whole city
Leaving it drifting like a big ark on the ocean’s waves,
People of a house in that locality
were disturbed from their slumber
by someone knocking at the door.
They found this odd, mad man
At the door,
Dripping wet but
With the same smile that seemed to burst forth
From the tangled mess of his beard.
They heard the man say-
“It’s raining so heavily outside.
Would you be kind enough
to provide some shelter
to this stray dog here?
He is shivering with cold
And seems very hungry too!”
That was when the people told him
Straightaway on his face-
“What an odd man you are!”


#FOWC

Copyright @ Goutam Dutta

FOWC with Fandango — Odd