The Signs of Life

I have always been confused about the concept of 'signs', as they are called. I have never really figured out how to read them...when I am trying to get something but don’t get it in spite of my 'best' efforts, is that a sign that I am not supposed to get it, or is that a sign that God is 'testing' my mental, emotional and physical strength, and sooner or later, I will be rewarded? I have never quite learnt to decipher them...

And yet, I allow myself to get intrigued by them. I wonder, when you meet someone, just like that, on the road, in the supermarket, at the bus stop, in the school, at the hospital, in the lift at your work place...just about anywhere, and your eyes lock for just that fraction of second, and you exchange a polite smile, a ‘thank you’ or ‘excuse me’, or 'you dropped that', or just start chatting about something you booth seem to be looking at or looking for....is it all so meaningless? Are all these people, I cross my path with on a daily basis, just meant to be casually passing by my life?

I met her also just as casually, in fact more than that. I had been going for those classes for a few sessions now, and hadn’t yet made any friends...the ladies would quietly pick up their belongings, walk out of the studio, and into their worlds; except the occasional ones who knew each other from before.

That day, while waiting for the class to begin, I went out to make a quick call. The phone was in my hand, and I was about to hit the dial pad when she came from the opposite direction. 

"The class never starts on time" I remarked, looking up at her, and expecting a grunting “Yes’. I thought she was the same woman (blame my memory cells! No one takes it seriously when I tell them that I have started forgetting things, names, faces….) who had been really upset due to late start of the class just the other day...and had left the class midway because it had upset her schedule.

"Yes,” she laughed and gave me a big smile, “but sometimes, the teacher comes on time- just to give us a surprise!"

We both laughed. She told me she tried but managed to come only once a week for the classes. (So, she definitely was not the same woman who had got upset the day before!)

And then, it just went on.

She offered to pick me up for another class elsewhere where she thought the instructor was better suited to my objective of attending these classes. I wondered (in a nice, and yet a bit sceptical kind of way!), what is this woman… she hardly knows me and yet she doesn’t mind picking me and dropping me back at my place for a class that I have shown no inclination for, so far. Then, we spoke about our kids, their schools; her vacation (she is going away today) plans, compared different education systems (IB vs. SABIS vs. British/ American), discussed the problems of our growing up kids, and compared notes on our teacher's way of teaching. By the end of five-seven minutes of our nonstop chatting, we had exchanged our names, shaken our hands, and smiled broadly at our teacher whose arrival meant we had to stop that high-pitched conversation and laughing.

At the end of the class, we exchanged phone numbers, and she surprised me by hugging not only me, but asking me to hug the kids also for her...

It was so surreal. At a place where women did not even bother to smile, I had made an instant connection with a woman who was as different from me in appearance, culture, expertise at the art, everything; as can be...and yet, it all had seemed so effortless. I hadn’t felt that connection with anyone in a long, long, long time.

Now, again, I am not sure if we were both just passing by each other's lives, and were just meant to have those happy moments, or will it eventually become an unlikely friendship. Either way, I think it was her warm smile that gave me the first sign!