A Smile on 1 in 50 Faces
Today is one more day with the same routine stuff.
Got up late today and got ready in record time.
Its fun when things slip out of routine, something different is always welcome, even if it is just getting up late.
The company bus came on time. I got into the bus and as usual occupied the second last seat (the two seater window seat). I tried hard to open the window. I love the feel of fresh air on my face. It’s a different thing that the air loves to play havoc with my hair :( (Guess I will be left with a few strands by the time I am 30 yrs)
But I must have rubbed off some of my adamancy onto the window. So it refused to budge open.
As the bus continued its journey through the route it takes day after day after day, people poured in. Almost all seats were occupied.
I am one of those very few people who like the window open (even when the bus is on the highway)
So with my window closed today, there was just one window which was open in the entire bus and that was the driver's window, which obviously seemed miles away from my seat.
All windows closed... All people - sitting like robots... no chatter like the one which fills school buses, no small talk, no smiles...people with wooden expressions on their faces.
Occasionally a phone would ring and their answering it was perhaps the only sign of life in the otherwise morose atmosphere.
Normally with the window open, I am completely and totally lost in the scenery outside. I also love listening to Radio Mirchi, but today the radio in the bus did not seem to be working.
I stared out through the glass window and looked at the trees, hills, and people .There is a Shiva temple on the way, somehow it always fascinates me. But today I was pretty thoughtful and I somehow missed the temple, something that I haven't done in months...
I decided to do something different. I see approximately 200 to 300 faces on the roads as the bus undertakes its journey from Dahanukar Circle (Home) to Hinjewadi (Office).
Today something in me wanted to break free - thought of counting the number of smiling faces.
Was sure that on such a beautiful day, I would see atleast 30 smiling faces.
On Paud road, I saw many faces, but none with a smile. All seemed to be wearing tags of one organization or other ... waiting for their company bus with a face devoid of happiness , satisfaction and the one emotive expression that makes anyone and everyone seem beautiful... a smile
On the highway, I saw farmers tending to their lands, I saw lads (10 to 12 years old) carrying huge drums .Saw couples on bikes, people on their way to Mumbai in cars... truck drivers.... pedestrians ... village kids ...people in tamtams(these are six seater rickshaws/jeeps)
Three people had a smile on their faces...
One was a guy in a red Maruti 800..alone in the car and with a smile onto his face...
One was a truck driver who seemed to be explaining something to a lady who might have been his mother...
And the last one was a man, 25-30 years old, from Infosys...
Wait, there are 2 more people who had a smile transforming their faces today... As I had boarded the bus, had smiled at one of the passengers and she had smiled back...
Hmmm... 5 in 250 people...1in 50 faces...
Is their seriously something wrong or am I expecting too much from life? Does one need a reason to smile? Shouldn't it be the other way around... that people should not wear a smile if they have a reason???
A morning is the dawn of a new day; shouldn't it be filled with optimism?
One more chance to set things right, one more opportunity to realize that "life is beautiful"....
Over the years I have observed:
When I was a kid, my smiles were always returned...
As I grew up, the number of smiles reduced somewhat... basically because of some hesitation on the person at the receiving end...
Today, at 23 years, smiles have become rare... they are returned by few friends, and by those strangers who seem to have some life left in them...
there are others who do not return the smile because of some pride , there are yet others who can never understand why a stranger is smiling and many who have forgotten to smile... for them a smile is just a professional upward tug of the lips... a smile which seldom reaches the eyes...
Many people feel that I am childish; very few would understand as to why on earth was I counting the number of smiling faces today....
Ask yourself, as to how often you smile...feel blessed if it is often ...question whether over the years your frequency of smiling/laughing has reduced... because believe me, if you smile, it implies that innately you still have hope ... Hope that life is worth it... because it is hope which gets a smile onto your face... hope that makes you return a smile....
And if you don't smile often, don’t fret... just return each and every smile that comes your way today... and try passing on every smile you get...
Got up late today and got ready in record time.
Its fun when things slip out of routine, something different is always welcome, even if it is just getting up late.
The company bus came on time. I got into the bus and as usual occupied the second last seat (the two seater window seat). I tried hard to open the window. I love the feel of fresh air on my face. It’s a different thing that the air loves to play havoc with my hair :( (Guess I will be left with a few strands by the time I am 30 yrs)
But I must have rubbed off some of my adamancy onto the window. So it refused to budge open.
As the bus continued its journey through the route it takes day after day after day, people poured in. Almost all seats were occupied.
I am one of those very few people who like the window open (even when the bus is on the highway)
So with my window closed today, there was just one window which was open in the entire bus and that was the driver's window, which obviously seemed miles away from my seat.
All windows closed... All people - sitting like robots... no chatter like the one which fills school buses, no small talk, no smiles...people with wooden expressions on their faces.
Occasionally a phone would ring and their answering it was perhaps the only sign of life in the otherwise morose atmosphere.
Normally with the window open, I am completely and totally lost in the scenery outside. I also love listening to Radio Mirchi, but today the radio in the bus did not seem to be working.
I stared out through the glass window and looked at the trees, hills, and people .There is a Shiva temple on the way, somehow it always fascinates me. But today I was pretty thoughtful and I somehow missed the temple, something that I haven't done in months...
I decided to do something different. I see approximately 200 to 300 faces on the roads as the bus undertakes its journey from Dahanukar Circle (Home) to Hinjewadi (Office).
Today something in me wanted to break free - thought of counting the number of smiling faces.
Was sure that on such a beautiful day, I would see atleast 30 smiling faces.
On Paud road, I saw many faces, but none with a smile. All seemed to be wearing tags of one organization or other ... waiting for their company bus with a face devoid of happiness , satisfaction and the one emotive expression that makes anyone and everyone seem beautiful... a smile
On the highway, I saw farmers tending to their lands, I saw lads (10 to 12 years old) carrying huge drums .Saw couples on bikes, people on their way to Mumbai in cars... truck drivers.... pedestrians ... village kids ...people in tamtams(these are six seater rickshaws/jeeps)
Three people had a smile on their faces...
One was a guy in a red Maruti 800..alone in the car and with a smile onto his face...
One was a truck driver who seemed to be explaining something to a lady who might have been his mother...
And the last one was a man, 25-30 years old, from Infosys...
Wait, there are 2 more people who had a smile transforming their faces today... As I had boarded the bus, had smiled at one of the passengers and she had smiled back...
Hmmm... 5 in 250 people...1in 50 faces...
Is their seriously something wrong or am I expecting too much from life? Does one need a reason to smile? Shouldn't it be the other way around... that people should not wear a smile if they have a reason???
A morning is the dawn of a new day; shouldn't it be filled with optimism?
One more chance to set things right, one more opportunity to realize that "life is beautiful"....
Over the years I have observed:
When I was a kid, my smiles were always returned...
As I grew up, the number of smiles reduced somewhat... basically because of some hesitation on the person at the receiving end...
Today, at 23 years, smiles have become rare... they are returned by few friends, and by those strangers who seem to have some life left in them...
there are others who do not return the smile because of some pride , there are yet others who can never understand why a stranger is smiling and many who have forgotten to smile... for them a smile is just a professional upward tug of the lips... a smile which seldom reaches the eyes...
Many people feel that I am childish; very few would understand as to why on earth was I counting the number of smiling faces today....
Ask yourself, as to how often you smile...feel blessed if it is often ...question whether over the years your frequency of smiling/laughing has reduced... because believe me, if you smile, it implies that innately you still have hope ... Hope that life is worth it... because it is hope which gets a smile onto your face... hope that makes you return a smile....
And if you don't smile often, don’t fret... just return each and every smile that comes your way today... and try passing on every smile you get...
posted by Megan Hawk at 5:22 AM
4 Comments:
whether our smiles are returned or not, we shudn't stop smiling... right? :)
ok, after reading this.. i worked up the courage to smile at this cute girl in my floor this morning. I did smile & she didnt smile back :( i blame u
absolutely daneshia:)
Hi,
Thanks for the comment on my blog.
Read thro most of the posts on ur blog. I am not much into poetry, but it felt nice reading them. Could identify a lot with what u had written in "What Makes Life Beautiful".
About the post "A smile on 1 in 50 Faces", I too agree with what u've said. In my bus too, I've seen people sit with a wooden expression on their faces.
When I asked myself as to why I was not laughing at someone, I got the reply that either I was afraid the other person might not laugh and I might end up looking like a complete fool or I just wanted to spend the 2 hours on bus with myself.
Post a Comment
<< Home