No, I am not talking about the Valentine's Day when I narrate this particular incident of my life that happened a few days back. In fact, it was just an ordinary day, by every standards, except perhaps a chance encounter.
I was on my way to office in an auto that morning. We stopped at a traffic signal and I peeped out to breathe the fresh morning air. Suddenly, out of nowhere a very young girl, clutching a few wilted roses, approached my auto. She didn't utter a single word but the pleading was evident in her eyes. I nodded my head in negative and tried looking elsewhere. I could feel her eyes nudging me from a distance. The auto driver tried to dissuade her but the girl persisted. I finally took out my wallet and mustered all the change I had in my fist and gave it off to her. I couldn't bring myself to count the money and I had no intention of taking a rose from her in return. The girl realized this and neither did she count the money. She handed me a rose in spite of my refusals and walked away.
The entire incident happened in a probably 1-2 minutes. However, I noticed everybody at the signal looking at me. I tried looking out of the auto to pay the girl some more money but she had vanished without a trace. Soon enough the traffic signal changed from rose red to leaf green and my auto zoomed away. As I held that rose in my hands, I felt the words echoing in my ears – 'Aaal izz welll'
This seemingly simple incident made me feel really good. It re-instilled in me the belief that I am a good person at heart. But more importantly, it convinced me that there is still goodness in this world. If a young girl, dressed in rags and carrying a few wilted roses to make her living for the day, could be proud not to accept money for nothing and generous enough to give away one of those roses for a few coins, indeed all is really well!
That rose adorned my work cubicle that day and I have carefully preserved it in one of my notebooks in reminiscence of my encounter with the rose lady.
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