She’s got the look

Have you ever walked down the street or a market, encountered a complete stranger, shared a single look of complete comprehension, smiled and walked ahead…probably never thinking of that person again?

I have. And even though life goes on the same way after that, it feels good to have shared that one look which said: “I see you”. (I honestly typed this before the dialogue from Avatar came to mind!!! :-) )

It happened today when I was crossing my local market and this woman was getting mehendi done on her hands. I loooove mehendi, so I was trying to a peek at the design, when she looked up. It was just a fraction of a second, but we connected. I looked into her eyes, both of us smiled in acknowledgment of our mutual love for henna. We were happy for her. I didn’t know her, but I was happy for her… the fact that she was getting mehendi done… the fact that even though she had soooo much of work to do while taking care of her house and family, and the only time she got free to get this done was in the middle of the afternoon, under the relentless sun… we were both happy that she was getting something that she likes.

I walked away. I didn’t look back. I am not wondering what kind of a life she has. I am just happy that she’s happy to be getting henna on her hands. And I know she knew it too.

The reason I felt compelled to write about this is because just after coming home, I read the news of a bunch of guys stoning a harmless truck driver to death just because he could/would not give them a pass on the road at night. That’s also a connection between two strangers. One of them isn’t alive to think about what happened between them… the others, well, one can only hope that they regret what they did. (It’s sad how I’m becoming numb to such atrocities. I sigh, comment how uncivilized civilizations are becoming, and soon forget. That’s unfair!)

We make so many connections in our lifetime. Some stay, some are just as brief as a single look. But it’s bizarre how even the briefest of connections can turn out to be so life altering. Or even that sense of being acknowledged or being “seen” by some random stranger gives your spirits a renewed boost…a reassurance that you’re not alone.

On a lighter note, there can be many such shared looks between strangers that are not as serious too. The look guys exchange when one of them has scored with a hot chick at a party. Then there’s the exasperated look women share if some guy is acting obnoxiously (and all of them may be strangers!). The assessing look between a guy and girl (this leads to a whole different story, but we’re not getting into that right now ;-))

Hmmm… can’t think of any more, but I’m sure there are several in the list. Anyone wants to give me a hand? The comments section on the blog is all yours…. :-) )

(And yes, I know the last line is a plug for you readers to comment… so save me the teasing :-P)