The old man and the drain (with apologies to Ernest)

This is from around 2010. My commuting time to office was fixed as was the route. Drive down Cubbon Road and turn right at central street. Just a few meters from the cross on the left was a building. This old man seemed to be part of the road and always sitting in a squatting manner in front of a closed sewer manhole and staring at it in a perplexed manner. To give an idea, the squat was akin to how men of old smoked beedis. I had a blurry photograph of him clicked while driving at 40kmph but can’t find it now so have to describe him best as I can from memory. I would put his age around 60 and always wearing a standard brown Government uniform. He had white hair and white whiskers. I don’t know why I call then whiskers and not a moustache but it really seemed liked whiskers. The whiskers had a distinct military look around them and I thought it was fate that he could not join the forces and had to settle to something so much different and thankless. His weapon or accessory was a long bamboo stick which was (and still is) used in the high-tech Silicon Valley of India to clear blocked sewage lines.

Strangely, I never did see the manhole fully opened so I did not figure out why he was staring at it. Sometimes it was partially open and I assume he was steeling himself before fully opening it. It also seemed that he was perpetually chalking out a preventive strategy to avoid overflow.

My mind was always puzzled as to what his thoughts were. Was the shouldering of the responsibility of ensuring that the sewer did not overflow weighing down so heavily on him?

Did the population of the city even know about his presence let alone notice him or what a role he played in their life’s ? Did he get any appreciation from anyone around?

I shifted office shortly thereafter and have not commuted on this stretch coinciding with what would have been his duty hours but just wonder what happened to him