She is invisible. Clad in her simple green uniform salwar kurta, a spray bottle in one hand and a cleaning cloth in the other, she walks around the cafeteria to no one's notice. People would move around their lunch plates in their hands, looking for a clean table to sit and suddenly finding one not realizing that they had discarded it earlier and that the frail woman had walked up behind them while they complained of negligence and laziness.
She is frail, with tiny hands and a small expressionless face, only caring about doing her job and not stepping into other people's way in the crowded cafeteria. She is there in the cafeteria, whenever you would go, but you wouldn't remember her. You wouldn't even remember her face. You might remember the flick of her chunni as she walks by or a blurred image of her scrubbing the table next to yours. An image you registered from the corner of your eyes. Or you might have seen her sitting with her other green-clad friends, chatting about merrily, yet in a very low voice and eating from their small steel tiffin.
Walking carefully to not tread in some other person's path, she once got lost in her thoughts and almost collided with a man coming through the gate. The sudden realization of the impending collision hit both of them and they stopped dead. The guy with his hands raised and the woman simply frozen. For a split moment, they were both looking into each other's eyes. For a fraction of a second, she was getting registered in his consciousness. It was a look of acknowledgement, even if accidental. And then suddenly, as if time had been fast forwarded, the guy lowered his hands, smiled graciously and excused himself. The lady smiled, lowered her head and stepped aside to let him go. She then walked with a gentle spring in her step, a quality of life in her actions as she basked in her one small moment of existence.
Meanwhile, the guy sits here in a fancy coffee shop surrounded by pretty girls and boys with his diary and pen in front of him, struggling to remember the face of the lady he almost bumped into earlier in the day.
