The Empty Chair

Date: 21/06/2026
All Rights Reserved by the Author

“What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” — Helen Keller
In a small café, a particular chair stood empty.
Most customers paid little attention to it.
Yet for the owner, the chair carried a story.
For many years, an elderly gentleman had occupied that seat every morning.
He would order the same drink, read the newspaper and exchange a few friendly words before leaving.
Nothing remarkable.
Nothing dramatic.
Just a simple routine.
Then one day, he stopped coming.
Life moved on.
New customers arrived.
Conversations continued.
But the empty chair remained a quiet reminder that ordinary people often leave extraordinary impressions.
We tend to remember major events.
Yet much of life is built from small, repeated moments.
A greeting.
A shared smile.
A familiar face.
The chair reminded the owner that presence itself can be a gift.
And that sometimes we do not fully appreciate the value of a routine until it becomes a memory.

Rajat Chandra Sarmah
Guwahati, Assam, India
email: rajatchandrasarmah@gmail.com
youtube: conversewithasmile