What would be different in routine of a middle class person! Yeah it was just another day … same schedule …
come to office, return time not fixed, same traffic, same irritation, same
state of mind, same cursing to the system :)….
All in place as it is.
It must be 8:30 pm when I was on my way back. The day had
been really long and was not really fruitful as far as dead lines were
concerned. But music is something which helps me detach from all those nagging
thoughts. So unknowingly I was singing one of the favorite gazals, “ Seene mein
jalan”. It was a huge RED signal of 90 odd seconds. Suddenly I could sense somebody
looking at me eagerly while I was busy with my gazal. I looked back…she leaned
more to see if I respond. I thought she would not know even if I smile as I was
wearing a scarf all over my face. I smiled anyway and smile made my eyes
twinkle for a while. Surprisingly she recognized and smiled back. We played
hide and seek for next 30 seconds. Every time she turned back to see me looking
at her, her smile got bigger and more adorable. She was certainly happy to play
this remote game, she told this with the cutest flying kiss in the world. Soon
the signal was green and her dad started riding again. She waved continuously
till she could see my bike. Her mom was then surprised and looked back whom she
is bidding a good bye. Yeah she was just a kid, may be 2-3 yrs old.
This is just an incident and anyone can experience. But that
made me think about us, the elders. Do we
really smile without knowing a person? Do we wave back if some stranger smiles?
Do we really retain this innocence, the trust, the faith in just another human
being? Just take a pause and try to remember, when did we last smile looking at
stranger? When did we tell our name if asked by somebody, we don’t know? We have lot of doubts if somebody
smiles, or asks our name? May be because we read too many negative incidents in
news, day in day out. We don’t trust anymore. We hardly have faith that
somebody can interact for no reason. Somebody can talk to you without having
anything in mind. I do understand that there are adversities, there are bad
people around, there are unwanted, undesired things happening around. But is
everybody bad? We have probably made mathematical equations… politics implies
corruption, artists implies to addiction, boss bole to jhanjhat, biwi bole to
jhagda, a girl and a boy… bole to lafda….
Can we forget this for a while? Can we just believe in
purity? Can we just try and trust someone without a reason or a proof. Can we
just smile often? Can we protect a child within? Can we allow that child to
peep out more often? The child did this even without seeing my face… The eyes
were enough for her to get connected… why can’t we then? Yeah some people may think I am mad (and that I
am) if I do that… but if 1 in 10 smiles back, it’s worth it. It’s a pleasure
beyond words when you connect to eternity with such small things. It’s not
wealth that brings happiness… it’s attitude. It’s the purity within self. It’s
the faith within. I am sure the supreme power won’t let us down if we have
faith in this innocence. I am gonna
smile often, I am gonna listen to the child within… I am gonna wave back …. Will
you?
