We are all the same

I wrote the following post nearly two weeks ago, but couldn't get around to posting it. Here it is now, and as I read it this time, I got all the more misty-eyed than when I first wrote it.

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Sometimes unexpected events leave you feeling that all is right with the world. That strangely overwhelming feeling that engulfs you makes you overlook the quagmire of emotions that had till then been threatening to send your mind into a dizzy downward spiral. I am not talking something grandiose as winning a million dollars in the lottery. I am talking merely of events that take place everyday right across the street corner. Events that we in our race to conquer time, usually do not take note of; but on the rare occasion that we care to ‘stand and stare’, there emerges an understanding, and at times even an insight that would normally elude you, were you to spend hours together on books probing that issue.

The morning started as normal as any other day, and I was on my way to work, waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. I was looking around aimlessly when my eyes caught sight of a young man, probably in his mid thirties, and an older woman, may be his mother, standing together at the other end of the road, also waiting for the signal to change. There wasn’t anything extraordinary about the two of them; they were just the normal Korean people one would encounter on a day out – he was impeccably dressed; suited and booted, and the woman was well dressed in a black knee length skirt and a floral top. Not an unusual site to be seen in a fashion conscious city like this. As I soaked in the scene ahead, the lights changed, and what I saw next, gladdened me to my very core. It was something akin to a warm, soothing feeling overtaking you oh-so-slowly. What I saw in front of me was that as the signal changed, the young man had placed his arm across the older woman’s waist, and was guiding her along, with his palm holding her elbow. I smiled to myself, and stood there for just a second more taking in the scene. As we moved ahead, I from my end of the road, and they from the opposite end, by some stroke of providence, my eyes locked with those of the man right in the middle of the pedestrian crossing. May be I was still smiling, I am not very sure, but as we reached closer to each other, the man nodded at me, as though acknowledging what was going on in my mind, a tender smile playing about his lips, and his head held high! I shook my head in a quick nod, as though we had just casually exchanged a greeting as commonplace as, “Good Morning”. But there was more to it, and both of us knew that. May be this is what is the rare form of understanding that occurs between perfect strangers, just out of the blue. And this moment is so short-lived; it is here now, and then the very next second, you are back into your own world, looking at your watch, wondering if you would make it to the office on time.

It is moments like this that sometimes make me believe in universal emotions. I am an Indian, and that man was a Korean. But despite our national, cultural and religious differences, we had something in common. In reaching out to the lady’s waist while crossing the road, he connected with me and countless other Indian men and women who would do the same. May be despite all the outward differences, we all are unique in some way. Black, white, brown – that is the way a person’s eyes perceive us. But only if we look at others through our heart, we will find that there is so much that unites us all. We all want the same things -- love in our hearts and homes. A kind smile, a loving touch, a meeting of the eyes, a welcoming embrace – they all speak one language that we can understand in any corner of the world.