“Hey”- I knew this 3-letter word for long. I have used it
quiet often amongst friends & acquaintances. But it was only last month
over a couple of weeks that I realized the “power” it held.
It was during a trip abroad. I don’t want to name the place
or its people ‘coz 2 weeks, spread over 4 different zones, is too short a time
to generalize the nature of its people. Besides, my point here has nothing to
do with any particular place. Instead, it has got to do with the possibility of
creating such a place as I briefly experienced.
It happened to me one cold evening when I was walking on the
sidewalk and a gentleman was about to cross me. “Hey”, I heard him say. I
instinctively looked towards the source of the sound and then immediately looked
around. There was no one there and he was looking at me, smiling! “Was that for
me?”, I quickly wondered before replying with a nod and a smile. He
acknowledged and walked on!
All this lasted for over a few seconds but the impact of
this action lasted much longer! From walking with a serious face, I suddenly
found myself smiling! A hangover of the greeting!
Before I could recover from this… there was another “Hey!”
coming my way… And another and another… and soon it was everywhere! Be it in café’s,
on the bus, on the tube, in malls, parks, etc…
Complete strangers with whom you shared nothing in common
except that one moment when you were in the same time and space were
connecting! It was thrilling to realize how briefly as it might be but we were
all playing the same roll at some point- Walker on the side walk, Patron at a
café, Passenger on the bus, etc… and while playing that role… we connected
through a well meaning, very short yet fulfilling- “Hey!”
And then I came back to where I belong- India- Mumbai! And I
wondered- Could it be possible here?
We are not as developed as they are, not as rich as they are
and definitely not as educated as they are but then are we not as human as they
are?! Don’t we like to smile? How nice would it be to not be forever as
irritated as we seem? How nice would it be to connect for that brief moment? So
I decided to try… but that very day I received this forwarded msg-
“Smile to at least one unknown person while walking, so that
he forgets his problems and starts thinking……… “Bh#$!%@d! Yeh kaun tha??!!”
I dropped the plan!
2 comments:
I totally relate to this blog as this is something that I have experienced myself and that too for a long time! I did have the same question that you had and as a matter of fact when I returned to 'Amchi Mumbai' I continued smiling at and greeting strangers for a little while only to get confused and irritated looks back! :-(
Wow u write really well.
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