By the time I left office, it was almost 07.00 P M. The sun had already set and the street lights were slowly warming up, getting ready to dazzle the environment with myriad colors. I started walking to the place where I parked my car when a gentle breeze mockingly blew past me, playing with my hair and tickling my belly popping in between the buttons. I got in to the car and put on some music. Karen Carpenter’s mellifluous voice seeped in to my ears and for a moment I closed my eyes and ensconced myself into the snug confines of my vehicle. Along with the music I wafted out of the window, into the seamlessly interconnected world, ricocheting from one person to the other. Like the sound waves, I travelled far into yonder blending with the horizon. A gentle breeze blew past, waking me up from my reverie. Time to go home!.
Soon I was maneuvering past the ubiquitous motorists, trying to negotiate with them for “My Space”. The traffic police was doing an impromptu jig, trying his best to control the mayhem. The red light then made its godly appearance and brought the vehicles to a standstill. As I was ruminating in the car, a commotion on the foot path caught my attention. The candy man’s resounding bell has shaken up the street kids from their limbo. They were all jumping around him in anticipation of receiving some in charity.
Amidst the group I noticed a small girl with her thumb stuck in her mouth, clasping a torn doll, looking forlornly at her brother who was animatedly jumping in exhilaration. The candy man might have noticed this sweet innocent little thing for he asked the girl to come forward and handed her 2 candies. Her smile lit up the entire street. She was giggling with happiness and jumping with joy when her brother pounced on her, snatched the candies from her and ran way, followed by 20 other greedy mouths. The girl started crying. Little pearls of tears trickled from her eyes and made fjords on her cheeks.
With the doll dangling by her hand and sobbing uncontrollably, she teetered back to her place on the footpath where she lay down on the raised platform. Her thumb slowly found its way to her mouth. While she was sucking it as if it’s the sweetest candy on earth, a gentle breeze blew out of nowhere, and lulled her to sleep……. like a caring mother. With tears in my eyes, I looked up to the skies as said “Thank you God.”
The blaring horns jolted me from my cogitation and I saw that the lights were green now. As the vehicles moved forward, I changed the station and coincidentally Bob Dylan’s “Blowin in the Wind” played through the radio. The last part of the song … “The answer my friend is blowin in the wind” was being sung out when a gentle breeze blew through the window, murmuring sweet nothings to me. I strained my ears to hear what it wanted to say…..
And it whispered……………. “You are the wind that is yet to blow”….
Originally published at www.linkedin.com