I stay in a small lane with houses on both the sides. As we enter the lane, there are few houses which are relatively empty, and few are occupied by a senior citizens.

Recently, during the height of lockdown as I walked to my mom’s house, I saw few people walking down further away from the house. It was unusual to see people outside due to lockdown. They all were going down, to a part of the road which I wasn’t unfamiliar. And, then I saw this poster which is now the norm when people die.

When I told my mom, she said that she used to see this priest going past our house and these days he wasn’t seen. Probably, he was sick. He must be my age or younger.

I just happened to think how much we know the people who are living in and around my house. Who are these people? What do they do for living? What are their joys? What are their pains?

We all have become too inward to know all these nor we have the chance to have a heart- to-heart conversation. Also, this parting made me revisit an earlier goodbye in our locality.