Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Days

The soft wind swept her sticky face, tickling her as she felt her eyelids drop and the humidity and stickiness of the sun made her even sleepy as she dragged her foot forward to the taxi stand. She had just stepped out of the train station and had another half an hour journey calling her name as she sun beat down her back and she cursed herself for not putting any sunscreen as she felt her dusky Indian skin cry is horror as it turned two shades darker. She could almost hear her mother's monologue in the background, "Who will marry you? Nobody likes a dark skinned girl." Her inner snark already rebutting with a "Yes, the whole point of  my life is to marry a boy, mother dear." Her heart panged at the thought of her mother as she became terribly homesick. Living in a PG away from home can only be exciting for so long before one starts miss their family.
Her turn to catch a taxi finally came, as she paid for her prepaid cab and waited for the cab to arrive. The bright yellow taxi almost hurt their eyes in the hot tropical sun as the cabbie smiled amicably and opened the door for her. The chill of the AC offered some respite to her sticky hot skin as he started the drive home. With nothing to do, she studied the cabbie's profile. Long nose, wrinkled skin, a small button nose with a bushy black moustache and curly black hair, he was a stark resemblance of her uncle back in her home town. He smiled politely when he suddenly asked her name. Skeptically she told her first name. His eyes suddenly sparkled and he told his name as Rajesh Kumar and that he was from South India from the state of Tamil Nadu. Hearing stories about kidnapping and rape cases among public services, she was on alert as to why this stranger was telling her all thing about his life. He went on to ask what she was studying and where she was from. Not reading any signs of psychopathic or murderous sign from the cabbie, she curtly gave him one reply words, hoping he would get a hint. But the simpleton not reading her signs, went on to talk about his family, his nephew who is studied in the same college as her and is now in Canada, about his two daughters, how he misses his family who he left back in Tamil Nadu in hope of providing them better, his two daughter who are studying in 10th and 8th and getting all scholarships and straight A's, and lastly his wife's cooking. She may not have been interested in talking to him before, but she recognised something she hadn't before; his eyes. She saw the same sad eyes as hers, eyes that were missing the familiarity of their home and warmth of their family. She politely smiled and nodded and listened intently to everything he said. Just as they reached her destination, he turned back and smiled so sincerely, all her doubts and coldness melted as he said, "Thank you for talking to me so nicely. I work all day and drop passengers from here to there, but most are too busy on their phones or don't want to talk to me as I'm a cabbie. Do you know I wait to go home so I can talk to people? My friends and family are tired of hearing me talk, and keep telling me to shut up, but I need to make up for the silence I hold the whole day. But you listened and didn't shut me down completely. So thank you Miss!" She laughed as she paid him as she felt her cheeks redden with embarrassment for the suspicion she felt for this simple man. His cute crooked smile filled her lungs with cheer as she told him, "You and I, are outsiders who are surviving in this city for the betterment of our families. I know the feeling and hope his helps you to go on a holiday to visit them." as left him a generous tip and she walked to her PG.
"You made my day miss." he said.
''No, you made mine."


PS
This is actually an incident that occurred to me. Just added some spice but I really liked his man. It was such a pleasure to have met him.
Dear Rajesh Kumar, wherever you are, I hope you're doing well. I'm sorry for my indifference and I hope you see your family soon.

Until next time readers
xxxx

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