The bench

          "Look, those kids, so cute" my friend told me as we were walking through the crowded streets of Lajpat Nagar. On the bench, not so far away from us, sat three small children. I wondered how they were coping with the cold because even after three layers of cloth, I was shivering. We went and sat next to them. The girls were shy even to look up at us. We wondered what they were doing there alone. Some twenty minutes passed and no sign of anyone coming for them. 

            We had to conclude that they must be the children of some street vendor and so would be quite used to the place. We had to,because we didn't want to think of the dangerous hands these innocent little ones could fall into if left alone in such a place. We had to, because we wanted to get back to enjoying our life with a clean conscience. We had to, because we couldn't bear to think of anything else. So we left them there after some thirty minutes , shivering but still smiling, waiting (may be) for care givers or for more shoppers who, like us, would come, sit beside them and go away so easily like we did. Or they were quietly judging the world passing them by from that cold bench. Or maybe they were waiting for the cold, hazed tomorrow.