The market

Yesterday evening, I found myself at the G.K.Vale photo shop(at the Vijaynagar market), getting bored. I was there to give a few photos for print(obviously). There was a big crowd there, and the receptionist was going beserk trying to handle the irritating customers.[One of them kept coming back every two minutes to ask how longer it will take. The poor girl was trying to be as polite as possible,"Sir, please be seated, it will take about ten minutes..", but I think she wanted to slap him hard across the face and say," You idiot, can't you understand when I tell you to wait for ten minutes?I am not lounging around here drinking Vodka. Even I am working!"].

There were people everywhere looking so tense, I wondered how they were going to smile inside the studio! And then there were the little kids, who found everything interesting,from the floor mat to the shoes of the giants walking around them...But their explorations were constantly cut off by their parents who were pulling them back roughly, and obviously, the restriction brought about that very famous frustration and then then the outburst of the screeching high-piched crying...

I slowly moved out of the shop, into the balcony(the shop's on the first floor) to escape the commotion. I looked outside, at the market below. People everywhere. Walking about in seemingly total randomness, tension overflowing from their faces.
Vendors shouting at the top of their voices to drown out the competitors, the aunties moving about restlessly, bargaining for that "vital" one or two rupees they might get off on the groceries.
Street hawkers with toys on the floor, which were jumping up and down, attracting the kids being pulled along by the frustrated parents...
A flour mill below was making that nerve racking sound, making a reasonable contribution to the already unbearable noise...
Vehicles were trying to make their way through the crowd(I still feel that vehicles should not be allowed into the street, if not for safety of the ones walking, atleast for that of the ones driving!!)...And the loud horns were not exactly helping in making way..That's the beauty of the Market. Nobody cares how hard you honk. All they care is about themselves and their groceries.

And then, I saw him. He was about five feet tall, had white hair, and wore a think framed set of spectacles. A typical example of a retired man, in his early 60's. He was moving about from one vendor to another slowly, taking his time to choose the vegetables. One of the few people, who was actually enjoying his time out of the four walls of the house he must have been sitting in the whole day. He was asking the price of the vegetables, and was smiling all the time...

I know, he might be retired, and might not have any other job at home, and so he was taking things easy, but I wonder, is it not possible for us too, to take things a little easy in life? I don't want to slow down the pace of our life, but why don't we enjoy what we do? Why the frown?Why the swear words?Why the fights?Why the hard feelings and misunderstandings?...