It was a long, hard day of mundane work and it is late now, almost 11 PM. You come out of the office and find that it is a dark and rainy night. With no auto in sight, you curse yourself and take the only option left; tread the 2 km walk home on foot. You remove the bag from your back and hang it in front of you, to safeguard it from getting wet in the pouring rain. You open the umbrella and start walking. Fortunately, for you, the heavy rainfall slows down to a drizzle. But, somewhere inside you, there is an urgency to reach home. You hug your bag tighter and increase your pace.
You are half way through and now you have to walk along that familiar narrow turn on the road, with a lone dim lamppost at the bend. As you get closer to the light pole, you see that you are walking past a lengthy, wide puddle on the road. You hear a two wheeler riding towards you from the other end of the turn. You look around, to realise there is no escape and you have that ‘uh-oh’ moment. You brace yourself for the onslaught of the dirty splash all over you.
The drenched rider, just in a Tee and trouser, is now slowing down and you can see that face close and almost clearly under the light of the lamp post. The stranger smiles at your deer-caught-in-headlight expression and passes over the puddle carefully without making a splash. You then watch the rider fade into the murk.
You continue walking past the light pole towards the other dark turn, but your face lights up. Under the umbrella, you loosen the grip on your bag, You feel uninhibited, letting the rain touch the periphery of your body. You slow down your pace. You are not sure of the reason behind the sudden warmness in your bones. Is it because of that small gesture of kindness, a tiny lesson learnt or because of a romantic impulse?