The Escalator

I waited outside the mall entrance for my cousin to join me who had gone to park the bike. It was Christmastime and the mall was brightly lit. People were flowing in and out and there were pretty girls to be seen all around (my area of interest!!). I stood there scanning the crowd when my cousin joined me and we moved inside. The mall was heavily crowded. People were brushing past each other. In a few minutes, we reached the escalator.

There was a good no. of people waiting to climb the escalator. (Lazy fellows!! Why cant they use the stairs??). We decided to climb the stairs instead. We walked to the staircase as our eyeballs were busy scanning for pretty faces in the crowd. Our attention again went back to the escalator entrance. People were gathering there but no one seemed to climb up.

An elderly couple was standing ahead of all of them, a man in his sixties and a woman who seemed to be his wife. As we were watching from the stairs, the man held out his hand and urged the lady to come with him. She shook her head, denied. She probably was afraid of climbing the escalator. People started shouting from behind. Some more people tried to convince her but she was too reluctant. As more people started shouting from behind, the aged man held the lady’s hand and pulled her towards him. Panic struck her and she put her right foot on the moving escalator. Not able to control herself, she instantly turned back and jumped to the floor. Great reflexes from a woman in her sixties! (At a distance, I and my cousin both were giggling). As she landed on the floor again, two men caught her by the arm protecting her from stumbling. She balanced herself and turned back to see the old man already half way up again signaling her to come up. Suddenly she realized that one of her shoes had come out of her foot and was going up on the escalator. People started smiling all around. The old man realized that the lady’s shoe was accompanying him two steps beneath. He climbed down two steps of the running escalator, held the shoe and with a small grin, showed it to the lady as if it was his bravery award for saving a life. The lady, panicking till now, smiled on seeing her shoe in his hand. Every single soul present there was watching them now and smiling.

The whole of the mall’s attention turned towards the escalator and people became much interested in watching the old woman do the adventure (climb the escalator!). Meanwhile, the old man reached the summit. All started clapping seeing the couple’s feat. His smile increased as he held the lady’s shoe high like a trophy. Again he signaled her to come up. The old lady pointed towards her shoe and asked him to throw it down. The man raised his hand, bent his body backwards used his full force to throw the shoe downstairs. To his disappointment, and to the spectators’ joy, the shoe fell only half way down the escalator and started moving up again. The crowd burst into laughter. The shoe reached the old man again. With a vague grin on his face, he lifted the shoe again. The crowd was enjoying the scene, for a moment forgetting that they had to go up too. Annoyed of all this, three ladies came front, held the old lady’s arms and with great difficulty pulled her up on to the escalator. Finally, both of her feet were on the escalator (of course, one without a shoe!). She balanced herself from stumbling and stood straight. Her facial expressions changed again. Her eyes met the old man’s eyes. He stood at the top holding out his hand waiting for her to come up. As they neared the top, the other ladies held her tight again, lifted her (zor laga ke haisa!!) and pushed her out of it. This time, she couldn’t balance herself and was about to fall, when a stereotypical hindi movie scene happened. The old man caught her by her shoulders, protecting her from falling (romance at sixty, wow!!). She stood up, wore her shoe and looked down.

All the damn eyeballs present in the mall were watching her. She had become the heroine of the stereotypical hindi movie. She couldn’t help but smile at them. The crowd suddenly roared and clapped. Most of the youngsters helped to increase the decibel level. She turned back and thanked the three ladies for help. The old man put his arm on her shoulder and they both slowly disappeared in the grocery section of the store. The crowd had had enough fun. Realizing that the comedy of errors was over, the crowd started moving again. Soon, they filled the escalator like a swarm of bees. I and my cousin looked at each other, smiled and disappeared. Everything was normal again.