Day to day life has a tendency to make you forget some of your goals or desires or even a part of yourself. How do you rediscover them? I've been realizing that sometimes complete strangers rekindle such lost or forgotten emotions; desires and ambitions. And what comes around goes around really.
Forgotten wishes...
As I threw myself into a cab this rainy New York morning, I gave out a big sigh when I realized how long the day was going to be. It was 6 am and I was already drained (else I would have taken the subway!!). To avoid sinking into melancholy, I started chatting with the cabbie who turned out to be from Egypt!!! Egypt is the one country I want to visit as soon as I am able to save up enough and get some vacay.......so I perked up :) He gave me advice on places to visit and things to do. We also went on to discuss politics and careers and I was definitely awake and alive by the time I reached work. He sent me off with a very sincere "It was really nice talking to you. Have a great day". I wished him a good day too and jumped off. So a complete stranger put some life in me...and made me remember by dream of visiting Egypt!! It was an awesome feeling....
Spread the love ....
On the subway. I felt as if I were in the twilight zone ...sheer exhaustion after a very frustrating day. I was slumped in a seat and directly across from me sat a middle aged guy with a few bags. He honestly looked as if he were carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. I felt really bad for him. He was writing something in his planner and dropped his pen my mistake. I dont think he even noticed it...he looked that dead. I waited for half a minute....walked over...picked up his pen and gave it to him. The man looked startled for a second...and then his face broke into the most blessed smile i've ever seen....filled with gratitude as if I'd saved his life. I was overwhelmed but smiled back at him with as much cheer as I could muster. I felt alive...he felt alive. Together, we had had managed to share one little ray of hope.
The Supercool Cabbie
This incident makes me laugh. I was stuck in heavy traffic in a cab. The cabbie was supercool. He had good music playing and we were chatting about random things. He mentioned that he had transported many celebrities in his 30 years or so career of cab driving. I was impressed...so I asked him who was the most important or biggest celebrity to sit in his cab? Pat came the reply ... "My mom". I was floooored....gave him a big tip too ;) Isnt that the sweetest thing you could've ever heard? Just made me re-remember how cool and important my mom is.
Never say die..
A couple of weeks back, I was riding the subway and sat next to this old man who reminded me of my grandad which is probably why I shook his hand when he introduced himself. He was telling me about his jewellery business and inquired about what I'd studied etc. So I told him that I studied Comp Sci at Columbia. He was suddenly really excited and wanted to know all about doing a Master's degree in Comp Sci. I discussed the options available at various unis in New York. But he said: "No! I'll study only at the best. I'll go to Columbia". I was filled with respect and admiration for him. Imagine, here was a 65-70 year old man shooting for the stars at the time of his life when most people dream about taking an extended vacation in the Caribbean. It put my life in perspective for sure...
Crazy!!
-Amrita
P.S: Songs for the Day:-
1. Give it up to me - Sean Paul & Keyshia Cole (LOOOOOOVE this song)
2. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
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16 comments:
What, was your cabbie reading "Chicken Soup for the Soul" before telling you that line about his mom? My tip for him would have been, "Stop being such a sappy SoB!"
Ha!
(Geez, am I in a mood today, or what?)
you were having an inspirational day. I think Egypt is on everyone's list whom I've talked to... I almost had a chance to go via Egyptair to India once with a stopover in Cairo... that would have been fun. We don't get to do those cab rides here at all, have to fend for ourselves.
@CK - oh shut up!
:P
@Mosilager - Yeah it was one of those days. And by fending for yourself do you mean that you can afford to have a car? ;)
yeah... but about affordability let's just say that my computer cost more than my car... and I got the computer on a dell deal.
@Mosilager - wow...umm...i hope it runs ok! :P
ha ha ha it runs well so far. I've been on 3 hour drives with it with no problem... it's an annoying shade of red and leaks engine oil but chalti ka naam gaadi so I be happy. It has a manual transmission and a stereo with an auxillary input so I can plug my mp3 player in directly, which keeps me from hearing any strange noises that the car may be making. Probably too much detail for your question, right?
@Mosilager - No worries..I love cars...and I love details about cars. I'm obsessed with driving actually... but that's another story. As long as your baby's running....it's all good! You can invest in your dream machine later right? :) It sure beats having to snuggle up with strangers in the subway daily.
a green (as in environment) porsche 911 turbo. I don't think that'll ever happen but one can hope. The Celi is running well, one day there will be a car blog post.
i'm touched - now tell me when u planning t ovisit the mummies there? inform me plz ...(more like can i join u ???????) plsh plsh
@Rads - If you behave yourself..and buy me expensive presents...maybe i'll take you along :P ;)
anything for u "huny" - will buy u a part of nile with a cruise ship and some dancing mummies and hercule poirot and some mystery for u to solve :) howzzat ....wil lthrow some temple and pyramid fun also in with camels ...
It's great how seemingly small occurrences like that can brighten up someone's day. Thanks for sharing them. Amri :)
Someone needs to shoot Yahoo, I thought the feeds issue was solved!! This is one of the most beautiful blog entries I've ever read. Thanks for sharing it, Amri :)
Wow.....best.blog.ever.
I really enjoyed this entry...
and i bet you didnt know that Egypt has been one of my dream places to visit too....we are one;)
yeah CK shut up.
When you said that man smiled when you picked up his pen, I smiled too...
Maybe his mother is a superfamous celebrity and he drives cabs because he wants to....
@Rads - dude...excellent plan!
@Cool - Exactly! It's the small things which matter the most right? Glad you enjoyed the post :)
@ALicia - Thank you chica! Glad you enjoyed it. And it only took a month for yahoo to feed it to 360... @#%^#!!
@Ito - :-) You rawk chica! Let's go to Egypt together then... :)
@Kim - could be.... :P
@Becca - Thanks! Glad you enjoyed reading this. And here's a (((hug)))...just cos.
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