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Published: July 22nd 2013
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For most people the everyday workings of daily life can be very comforting. A metro or train journey before and after work only helps add to the certainty and routine. The train is going to stop at the same number of stations the same amount of time. There is bound to be the similar number of people in the train at a particular time. It's easy to get comfortable with these sort of things, one can expect them to happen every day. One can come to the point when one is no more worried about missing a stop . Either one knows exactly when to look up from their book. Or you've missed your stop enough times to know that its not a big deal and you can always take a train back to where you had to change from. It's only a matter of extra 5 minutes and maybe it was worth that to finish the chapter of the novel you were reading.
Then again, things can't ever be that boring. Life isn't that complacent.
Every once in a while you come across a person in the train that makes you think about something. The person
or what they do, strikes a chord somewhere. And your ever so predictable journey takes a new turn. You're put in these thoughts that you can no longer concentrate on your book no matter how engrossing it seemed just a moment back.
A person such as I just describe, happened to spoil my boring metro ride home, just yesterday.
She was an old Chinese woman. She rushed in. She almost skipped with joy, delighted to have made it on the train before the doors close ... She looked back at the doors behind her, as if to note if she had had more time or had it been a close shave.. The doors stayed open for a few moments extra. But that didn't take away the excitement on her face. It just made her realise her presence in a new environment. She then acknowledged it, looked around to take it in. But she couldn't hide her glee, her happiness at having made it on the train. I smiled back at her, but she wasn't quite sure if my smile was for her. There was a seat free, so she sat down, but even that couldn't replace the thrill she had just got.
Having been witness to her experience i just couldn't go back to my book.
I started to think, was this a rare bit of excitement that very rarely shown itself in this woman's otherwise mundane daily chores. Or was she the sort of person who appreciated every little happening in life just as much. Did it remind her of something? Perhaps a much earlier encounter, when she was travelling with a lover and they had managed to catch a train to some far away land where they could be alone together. Maybe it was a trip with her young grandchild who had now moved to a foreign country with his parents. Whatever the reason for her happiness, she had remnants of that smile on her face the entire four stops that she travelled on the train. Before she stood to leave, she looked up. Our eyes met, I smiled, this time she din hesitate to return it. And i'm still thinking about her, the fact that i'm writing this. Maybe she was just one of 'those' people. Maybe its just me. 😉
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