Group Health next door!

I have to tell you about this. I don’t remember if I have mentioned earlier, but our company shares the same building as Group Health Medical Centre. There is a Hear Centre, See Centre, Behavioral Centre, Psychologist. This doesn’t mean that there are patients walking in and out of the building all the time. Yet occasionally there are weird people one might bump into, either in the elevator or in the lobby. These are mostly harmless people. There hasn’t been a single harmful or aggressive episode or event in the building, I have to mention this so as to get it out of way and out of your minds.

I have travelled to my office on the 3rd floor sharing the elevator ride with old couples. I find oldies and kids very similar. They both have soft skins. They both do not have most of their teeth. Invariably I have found both the kinds smiling a lot. Today in the elevator there was a old couple. They smiled at me and suddenly the old man said. "Do you know we share the same ancestors?" I was like WHATT. I thought he was talking about Chimpanzees or Monkeys. I thought maybe he just came from the Behavioral Centre, so best ignore him. If possible try and recite Ram Raksha Stotra. But well then he went on to say "Your ancestors travelled from Africa to India. And ours travelled from Africa to Europe and then to here. That makes us related in some way". I was almost walking away from them, but this sentence made me turn around and face them. "Huh? Well ok" I said and smiled. His wife smiled back at me. Then he goes, "That’s the reason you have good big eyes just like we do". I burst out laughing at this. He kind of made a grumpy face. So I replied, "Well Sir yours are blue and mine are black". It was as if he just wanted me to comment on his knowledge and kind gesture or something. It made him feel satisfied. He put his arm around his wife’s shoulder and took baby steps towards the exit while smiling at me.

At 12.00 pm today, I saw another old couple. The woman was dragging a small cylinder on a little trolley which she was pulling. I just caught a glimpse, so I quickly took fast steps to see what she is using it for. It was an oxygen cylinder. She had an oxygen supplying cable running to her nose. She still smiled at me; I felt awkward and called myself “stupid” at least 4 times because I had run to see what it was.

I also remember one time this old woman had walked into the lobby and spread out her hands as if they were wings and kept going round and round in slow motion. She was trying to locate some address. Weird eh? There are a couple of youngsters who come with their parents, teenagers really. In hip hop clothes and sort of disoriented looks. This bunch does give me creeps. There was one such kid who had not tied his shoe lace and kept flipping it over and over. It was like he needed something to distract him constantly. His mother was calmly standing along the wall of the elevator, eyes closed. I felt she was praying.

Then this other time, there was a young couple, both with weird hair. The guy's were really long, where as the girl’s were really short and spiky. The moment the girl entered the elevator, she dramatically hugged the guy. I kind of folded myself and stood in a corner, biting on my own nails. When we reached level 1 and the elevator door opened, they both exclaimed, "We did it! This elevator ride wasn’t scary". I looked around standing in the elevator while they walked out, wondering what could be wrong with this elevator and why a ride from level 3 to level 1 could be so scary. I never got the answer but whenever I am alone in the elevator I still wonder about it.

There was also another old couple one time, the hubby was arguing with his wife that he doesn’t need new glasses and she kept telling him how he certainly does because he looks sooooooooooo old in the current ones. They were headed to the See Center. Heheheh. This couple must be in their 80’s. But the nice part with all this is, you always come across someone who shares a quick smile, chats a bit and that makes you feel a part of this society. Sometimes you find home away from home.