It was the month of December, the weather was
pleasant and everybody around looked light-hearted. Schools were closed for
winter holidays; the sight of kids running down the streets with their petite
frame being wrapped in thick bright colored woolen dresses was a feast to eyes.
Though the winters in Bangalore aren’t that harsh, it got colder during
evenings. I was out to just see if I could get some interesting facts for my write-up.
The winter clearance sale attracted people from all age-groups. As I passed by
one of the store, I noticed a lady with a shopping cart full of clothes waiting
restlessly for her turn. She must have been in her early 70’s or late 60’s. She
was wearing a white cotton churidhaar with a blue and red tie and dye patterned
stole. A medium-built lady with a shoulder length hair-cut. She looked
disappointed standing in the line for such a long time and it also seemed like
she was waiting for someone else to join her. It was almost 8pm in the evening
and I realized that the hunger acids in my stomach acted up. I went to a nearby
eat-out to order my all time favorite, hot samosas with spicy green chutney.
The hawker handed-over a coupon
with a number indicating that I wait for my turn. The number was 28 and I
waited patiently but it seemed like my turn never came even after a 30 minute
wait. As I approached him, he signaled me to wait for another 10 more minutes. Finally,
my turn arrived and as I stretched my hand to grab the plate, the samosas were
in the air; someone else had taken it. I was almost in tears; it felt like
someone had snatched a vital organ from my body. I was totally disappointed and
almost mad with rage looked at the person who had stolen my samosas. A medium
built person in his late 20’s or early 30’s with a radiant vision and a lovely
stylized beard stood in front of me with a lovely smile; it felt like I knew him since ages, my soul was on the dance floor letting itself free.
I stood mesmerizing
and almost had forgotten about the samosas until he walked up to me and met my
gaze. He again smiled very humbly and said, I beg your pardon, my aunt suffers
from diabetes and she was craving to have samosas, I had no choice but to
snatch the next order else she would collapse. My heart had woven a fabric of
abuses to shower on the samosa-thief but he had swept me off my feet with his
presence. I just smiled approving the act without breaking the eye-contact and
took my plate and walked away quietly. It looked like he was baffled by the
response but he was successful in camouflaging it, I was equally surprised by
my response but just let it be. I looked back to see if he was still hanging around
as I smiled to myself with glee.
As I walked down the street with the lovely
memories, my eyes went back to the waiting lady and this time she was with a
gentle-man having a gala time eating an ice-cream that dripped till her elbow.
She caught me off-guard noticing her and as we exchanged smiles; the man with
her turned around; my heart skipped a beat again.
“Trance was the state of mind; enchanting
was the spirit; a special soul you were, amidst the common people was to be
found and that was the destiny”
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