what appeared like a day labourer sitting at the window of a cargo van kept looking at me and then said something to his two colleagues without completely removing his eyes from me. there was an odd smile on his face and this same disconcerting smile was replicated on the faces of his mates after he had passed his comment. they all looked at me, and then drove off. i was leaning on the kerb railing smoking a cigarette and drinking a cola. i dont know if its relevant but i was wearing a black t shirt and dark denim pants. and although it really didnt go with the attire, brown shoes. i was wondering what it could be; but then they went away and i finished my smoke and the drink and left too. turning into p street where office is i saw a few kids, toddlers by standard reckoning but being of the streets they are old beyond their years for sure. here in bengal they go to tarapith with this cane strip on either end of which hang urns filled with water. bhole baba paar karega. i always wonder whether the practice is peculiar to the coast because the chant is from the cow belt. be that as it may, the children, two of them had this bamboo strip on their shoulders and on either end they had hung marigold bunches and with their mates in tow unmindful of the heat or of the sun they were chanting bhole baba... but not too loudly. i was distracted by them hurrying as i was on to work. i too am a child inside only that ive forgotten, but that is not relevant.