This is another observation that I have made over past few
years. Commercial street in Bangalore is the hub of conventional shoppers who
prefer to have all kinds of shops one after the other offering plethora of products
at reasonable prices. Being in the heart of the city, this place is relatively
approachable for folks from all parts of the city. It’s known for its numerous
dingy and narrow streets with hundreds of shops primarily selling apparels and
accessories with bargain hunters roaming all over to find the desired price for
a given item. These streets also offer a slight flavor of old Bangalore.
At any given time, the place is immensely crowded with shoppers,
vehicles, sellers, food vendors, cows, dogs and many more. It has reasonably
less choices of eating joints; especially restaurants where you could sit and
eat. The most prominent restaurant is Woody’s that serves almost all kinds of
food and beverages. It’s an old building with adequate seating area. The
building is divided into two floors where the ground floor has self-service and
first floor is a typical restaurant with the same menu.
I personally visit Commercial Street when I have a
relatively long shopping list that majorly contains traditional stuff like dresses,
jewelry, hand-crafts etc. and I eventually always bump into Woody’s to satisfy
my eternal hunger and breathe after hours of tedious walking on the streets. I
usually choose to go on the first floor to get rid of standing in the queue to
place my order.
This write-up is about this waiter who is always present in
the restaurant and has an ever smiling face. He is old, almost on the verge of
getting entirely bald, limps and drags his feet when he walks and is slim.
Nonetheless, he appears to be someone who simply loves his job. He bends his
head and welcomes you with a broad smile as soon as he sees you entering the
restaurant. He is fast, responsive and keeps looking out if any of his
customers need assistance. The tilted bow of his uniform shows his profound
engrossment in his work. I wonder if he gets much time to take breaks as the
restaurant is always occupied but his energy towards the end of the day matches
completely with the beginning of the day.
I don’t often meet people with such enthusiasm and diligence
towards their daily regular work. It’s always a pleasure to see him and get
inspired. His smile makes your tiring and exhausting day bright and cheerful. This
may be an exaggeration but he surely does that to me every time.
Isn’t it amusing that at times such people who could always
be ignored can inspire us?
