Aamir's flowers

Glimpsing into a citizen's eventful day

- Mayank Austen Soofi

The woman was walking along the lane, carrying a large bouquet of multicoloured flowers. Her right hand was holding the flowers somewhat carelessly, the bouquet facing downwards. The other hand had the mobile phone, glued to the ear. The flowers were frequently falling down on the pave, one or two at a time. After the woman disappeared from sight, young Aamir picked up each flower from the ground.

This was the only eventful part of his afternoon, in Aamir's telling, here on central Delhi's Chelmsford Road. He then used those flowers to decorate his rickshaw. The rickshaw is parked on the curb, as if like an exhibit.

"These are real flowers... smell them," he says.