stranger.jpg….We hear stories, sometimes, which talk of certain incidents or those casually woven threads of life, when we meet strangers, whose existence we are blissfully ignorant of, till that moment, and with who we participate in  “Acts of ephemeral-yet-playful madness Or Flirtation-The Minimalist Conspiracy with subtitles in subtle body gestures or body language”, as if we were goaded by the moment to cram ourselves into such seemingly tch tch “forgettable developments in life which have no second chance”.

Such delightful encounters with humans from the world of opposite sex, enable us to relish a new quality of life, insisting that it could be, and must be discovered and savoured by everyone. Not everyone endorses this concept, but hardcore romantics like me thrive on such moves within life. The moment I awoke with this delightful discovery that “he looked at me, threw a glance of admiration, or he did have that gumption to lock his eyes with mine for a brief second and sustained that joy throughout the journey till the termination point, after which there was no turning – looking back, but to vanish into the crowds of the city”. I stumbled upon a great joy that I did not know how to describe; it was, undoubtedly, the joy of feeling myself alive, with him, in a world that has Azure skies (GREECE has such skies, playing in contrast with Virgin White sandy lands), whole, healthy and serenity, but it was something more: the joy that other people exist, they live, they move around with their friends, they enjoy the lighter side of life with them, despite being embroiled in the pressures of mundane life, that they admire a petite woman who walk elegantly and tall in mustard brownish green cotton sari, in the sea of “denim humanity”, that there are different seasons and that no day is just like any other…that, on the street, in the airport lounge, during the flight, one could enjoy the possibility of feeling immense joy and bliss of life (which unfortunately and invariably comes in tiny doses). With returning glances, he and I sensed that we were participating in an intense human space dedicated for playful souls, that we were part of this beautiful world, where strangers meet for a few minutes, for a few hours, admire each other subtly, unnoticed by the world around, it’s almost like both are in some kind of conspiracy of penning a short love story and then leave each other with one more vibrantly-hued  meaning to life, to relationships, to silent conversations-blended-with-glances that happen between a pair of hearts. In some mysterious way, I am sure, we both are , now, feeling pleasant about having been admired by someone, having gathered yet another beautiful memory of a journey, which would have illuminated us internally, and there’s a still a tinge of blush on my cheeks.

And We would continue to remember vaguely, like some half forgotten dream, that this same thing had happened to us once before; it’s a story, which even the authors had felt intrigued about, at least once in their lifetime, and would have had gone through some kind of struggle as to how to terminate the story – the man meets the woman, or the woman tries to search for him or some other situation would soon be created so that silence between then-strangers-now-a-bit familiar gives way to a few smiles and a few words. What could be the best end for such stories? We may feel the urgency to know how it would turn out, if there is one more chance, so that we would sit there, in the same park, on different hard benches, and watch the swing of emotions……It’s human to fall in love with someone for a moment!

{to someone, a stranger who I met, who I glanced at, who was with his friends, travelling to Mumbai on 20th Nov, 2007. The flight had been delayed an hour and 45 minutes}    

{link: She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won’t lose no sleep on that,
‘Cause I’ve got a plan.

You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don’t know what to do,
‘Cause I’ll never be with you.

Yes, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Fucking high,
And I don’t think that I’ll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last ’till the end}