Watchman

I noticed him for the first time when on one morning I was pulling my car out of the parking. He looked towards me and nodded. He assisted me in getting my car out of the parking and saluted me. He was old may be in his 60s and fragile but he was alert. In short, he had the alertness of a watchman but was not physically fit to protect against any kind of attack.



Since that day I started noticing him and followed his actions whenever he was in front of me. I noticed that he would go in front of every car entering the parking and nod or salute. He would at times help people in parking their car even if they did not need any help. He was sort of over enthusiastic and I thought it was an effort to be noticed. Somehow I felt that he wanted people to notice his presence and acknowledge his efforts.



I sometimes saw people tip him. May be that was the reason behind his efforts to get noticed so as to get rewarded by people for his alertness and unwanted help. He used to be there in the morning when I pulled my car to go for work. He was present even in the evening when I parked my car after coming back from work. I even saw him at few occasions when I was out partying and came back late. It was difficult to ignore him.



Yesterday when I left for work in the morning, he was not there. I did not pay much attention to it. He was not there in the evening also when I came back from work. I missed his presence this time, but I ignored. He was not there today morning also. Finally today evening when I did not find him there, I decided to inquire about him. I checked with one of the shopkeepers.



I was told that he was not a watchman. He used to be one. He did not have anyone to support him so when he lost his job due to old age he did not have any means to earn his livelihood. So he decided to use his old uniform . He used to hang around in his watchman uniform and used to help people in parking their cars in order to get some tip from them. He was surviving on that tip. He fell sick two days back and some people got him admitted to the nearby government hospital. Doctors think he would not survive.