It has happened with me a couple of times now. It is something which sends shudders down my spine whenever it happens.

I had gone to meet a friend on her birthday. I found a parking space after a while in the parking lot and parked my car. An old, poor lady knocked on my window. I didn’t open the window as I didn’t wish to engage with her.

She spoke and I could hear from inside my car, she said, “Why do you always park the car here ? There are so many spots empty. You don’t let me be at peace and always irritate me.”

I didn’t know what to respond. I waited for her to leave. She left, I waited for a few minutes and then left. I completely forgot the incident.

A few days later while returning from work, I got stuck at a red light. The waiting time was around 2-3 minutes. I was just next to the divider. On the divider sat a normal looking guy. He was looking at the red light and was mumbling to himself. It looked like he was angry.

He suddenly looked at me and started mumbling in an angry tone. I could not hear him at all. He kept pointing towards the traffic. I saw in the direction where he pointed, there was nothing out of the blue, I looked away. I could still feel a pair of eyes looking at me and could see peripherally that he was still talking to me. I realised that he too was mentally unwell.The light turned green and I moved on.

These isolated events do not mean anything in themselves. It points to a larger unnoticed epidemic. Though there has been a rise in awareness of mental issues, there is no one out there addressing the mental issues of the downtrodden, those who neither have resources nor people to care for them and end up living a troubled life.

I hope this post helps someone in some way in the future.