Sharma ji

She waited patiently while he talked on with Sharmaji, smiling at herself. It was a habbit with him. He would always forget that she was waiting on the phone. Finally she heard him instruct Sharma ji about another work, chuckle and then his voice back on the phone.
"Sorry." He said and she laughed.
"No need. I quite enjoy listening into your talks with Sharma ji."
She heard him laugh and then they were chatting, Sharma ji forgotten for the time being. And then again...
"Hold on,...Sharmaji..."
"Now what?" she asked yet she knew she wasn't being heard. The attention was back to Sharma ji and she held on.
"Sorry again." he said, reverting back to the phone conversation.
"You and your Sharma ji..." she joked.
They talked on for another hour and then she kept down the phone.

Wondering what is it? Well it's not a story. Its a narration of the routine telephonic conversation I share with my dear friend Gaurav. Everytime I have called him in the past while he was in office, I have waited and listened on to his conversation with Sharma ji. I have joked about him too. He was somewhere always there but of no concern to me. Then why am i writing a blog entry for him?

I called my friend in the evening and this is the conversation that took place.

"Hi Gaurav."
"Hey Kanz," (Voice strained)
"You ok?" I asked, a bit worried.
"I have had a bad day."
I smiled, thinking he got another of his scoldings from his dad. It was always amusing to listen to him narrate. But then there was something out of place. Maybe something wrong at work.
"Well..." he sighed, "Do you remember the infamous Sharma ji?"
"Ofcourse I do. What about him?" I asked completely unaware of what was coming next my way.
"Well...he is no more."
The words sank in rather slowly and the first words that blurted out of my mouth were..."How can he just go like that?"
"People just go like that Kanz"....

We did not talk after that. He needed time and strangely I did too. I have never seen the man, he was just the foreman at my friends factory. Never have I ever talked with him. Have just heard him talking in the background, heard Gaurav joking with him and laughed at my friend and joked about Sharma ji. That's all. Yet...

While i write this post I have tears in my eyes. And though he was a nobody...I felt that i had lost someone.

This is because I know all of us come across people who mean nothing to us. They are not our friends, family or aquaintances. They are just there. Lurking in the background as we rush through our life. They don't bring changes in are life, they don't matter. Yet...you are oddly aware of their presence. And feel their loss.

Do you know a Sharma ji?