Crowd is strange! That evening, the market was really crowded. The Rainlover was trying to make his way through the busy, noisy and happy people rushing here and there. He believes, busy people always create a composite beauty… their eyes sing a nice song of life… however, listening to that beautiful song of life, the Rainlover was somewhat lost in the crowd when he was badly pushed by a person who was hurriedly coming from the other direction. The Rainlover was pushed aside in that collision… but somehow he managed. He looked down and saw the person who just had knocked him off, was in a mess. He was holding some 4-5 large packets in his hands and all had fallen down on the busy street. The Rainlover stopped down saying, ‘I’m so sorry! It’s my fault… let me help you to arrange these…’ The man looked up, smiled and said, ‘No brother, it’s my fault… I’m in terrible hurry…’ Together, they were picking up the grocery stuff from the street and were placing them inside the packets.

The Rainlover looked at the man in front of him. He was a smart young man in his thirties… dressed in a white T-shirt and gray trousers, he was looking quite nice and gentle. The Rainlover started, ‘Weekend shopping?’

The man smiled, ‘Yeah… kind of!’ he winked, ‘…my wife will kill me if I’m late!’

The Rainlover openly laughed, ‘Try those good old ‘honey, I’m so sorry’ tricks… she might spare you this time…’

The man also joined the round of laughter and gladly said, ‘I’m Manish…’ They shook hands… While all the misplaced stuff was replaced, the Rainlover said, ‘Let me carry few for you…’

Manish smiled, ‘That’s so nice of you, but I can handle it myself…’

The Rainlover smirked, ‘I can see how well you can ‘handle’ it yourself…’ then he assured, ‘…don’t worry, I’ve enough time… it’s perfectly fine!’

Together they got up, Manish led the way, and the Rainlover followed. The Rainlover had an impression that Manish might head towards the parking lot, but he was him walking towards the other corner of the market… anyway, he followed…. After some two minutes, they reached a place where mehendi was being done by the artists! There were many girls and women sitting with their palms stretched out for the artists to beautify. Manish scanned through the beautiful women sitting there and, after spotting his angel, almost shouted, ‘There….’ Two of them reached the place Manish pointed, the beautiful woman, dressed in a gorgeous saree, looked up and frowned, ‘You’re sooooo late! Bad hubby you’re!L’ Manish kept his packets down, stooped down, placed his palm on his wife’s head and said, ‘I’m bad husband, but you’re such a good wife… am sooo sorry!’ the woman smiled, Manish looked back at the smiling Rainlover and winked, ‘Thanks boss!’

The woman didn’t have any clue about this stranger, which led her to frown again … Manish smiled and gave his introduction… the woman gladly smiled, ‘Hi… I’m Spriha…’ unknowingly she took her left arm away from the artist and raised it to the Rainlover for a handshake, only to instantly realise that she can’t shake a hand that had mehendi on it! So she gave a cute smile and said – ‘Sorry… later on, sometimes…’ The Rainlover said, ‘It’s ok…’ Then he thought of saying adieu, but stooped. Ideally, he should’ve left, but he realised that poor Manish won’t be able to ‘handle’ these things all by himself and his only helping hand, his wife, also won’t be able to help him - she had mehendi on her hands. So the Rainlover asked the artist, ‘Bhaiya, Kitni deer lagegi? (Brother, how long will you take?)’ The artist looked up and smiled, ‘baas.. ho gaya..(That’s it, done!)’

The Rainlover was thinking may be Spriha’s right arm was done before, so he seized the packets again, ready to make a move. Spriha tried to get up, fumbled, Manished seized her, they smiled, they got up and the Rainlover couldn’t bear the sight!!! Spriha was a one-handed person – only left hand – her right hand was cut from the elbow! Such a beautiful woman, such a nice wife, such a cute lady – and was living with only one hand! The Rainlover was shattered from inside. He couldn’t utter anything…

Or hardly spoke after it, and the Rainlover went on staring at the HERO, in making!

HI... DID YOU SEE WHAT LIFE TRIED TO SHOW YOU TODAY??        

It was somewhere around 3pm. After week-long toil at official office shrilled by deadly deadlines, the Rainlover was longing for the doze of isolation. So he went to the hustle-bustle-less Sanjay Van, a planned forest at the edge of roaring South Delhi! It’s an absolute contrast to the city. After consuming the soothing silence of Sanjay Van, one can hardly imagine that just one kilometer away the city is rushing with lightening speed! The Rainlover needs this intoxication of isolation once in a while and whenever he does, Sanjay Van becomes one of his favourite destinations. He was lying on the lash green field with his arms and legs stretched away – careless surrender! Sweet chitter-chitter of unknown small birds from some unknown branches of some unknown trees from some destinations was so comforting that he almost forgot which is which and who is who in this world! Actually, he was just trying not to think of anything – except the sound of the bird and the sound of wind. Moment of perpetual tranquility – is what he could manage to ascribe the moment with!

Suddenly, he could feel some footsteps on the ground. So careless that he was that he didn’t even bother to look up. The sound of the footsteps stopped somewhere near, and an aluminum sound came! Yeah, a sound of opening an aluminum box! This time he rolled aside and looked at the source of the sound. It was 40+ man sitting under the nearby tree, opening his lunch box. The man was wearing a black trouser and a yellow shirt. Black-and-yellow generally isn’t a bad combination, but it demands tremendous support from the combination-holder to bring that soothing beauty or glamour that it can offer! Unfortunately, the stranger had nothing on his face to support the glamour of the dress! Moreover, his week-long unshaved stubbles and un-oiled, un-cut, un-combed hairs made the appearance somewhat unacceptably artificial! His shoes were kept at his right side. The Rainlover could easily guess that the shoes weren’t polished at least for a week! His left leg was stretched forward, displaying the hole on his black sock right at the tip on the thumb. Overall, the Rainlover thought, it was a man who was totally a humane – to be approached!

So the Rainlover jerked and got up. The man looked up and saw the Rainlover smiling. Generally, people give a weird reaction in response to a un-called-for smile from a stranger. But this man showed that the his appearance had nothing to do with him as a person – he was so smartly ready for the smile that he managed to came up with a genuine smile – at ease!

The Rainlover neared him and asked, ‘So, lunch time, haan?’ The man kept his smile at the same place, ‘Yeah, kind of! You had lunch?’ The Rainlover loved the invitation, ‘Who can stop me even if I had? I can’t? You?’ The man laughed out, ‘No, no… I was going to invite you.’ The Rainlover sat facing him straight and straightway reached out for the rooti and sabji! The moment he put the staff inside his mouth, he felt what home is! He openly asked, ‘Your wife made this?’ The man smiled, ‘Yeah! How do you know?’ The Rainlover had only one answer – smile! The man himself started, ‘My name is Bhupati Rana! I’m from Jaipur actually. Came to Delhi some four months back with my wife and son… now working with HSBC Bank as a policy vendor.’ The Rainlover was disturbed and asked, ‘Policy vendors aren’t supposed to keep weeklong stubbles and uncombed over grown hair!’ Bhupati looked at it and smiled, ‘I lost my mother last week!’

The Rainlover was perplexed! It was not the theme of the sad news that shocked him, it was the matter-of-fact tone with which a son delivered the death news of his mother that shocked the Rainlover totally! Bhupati was busy eating his food; the Rainlover had lost taste out of shock. The man looked up, read the colour of disbelief in his new friend’s eyes and smiled, ‘Don’t worry; actually I want to win it!’ ‘Win what?’ was the Rainlover’s un-uttered question, to which Bhupati uttered, ‘Losing mother is the worst blow. I want to see whether I’m courageous enough to win this grief or not! In those old days, my mother used to wash neighbours’ utensils and always urged me to be strong…not like my father, who had only one thing to do – get drunk and thrash my mother at nights. This is how I want to obey her!’

For few seconds, the Rainlover felt that this was unreal. He felt, even if it was real, this man might be a 16-17 years old kid - fantacising his grief. But somehow he realised, this is a ‘man with a mission’ sitting in front of him. They ate in silence, open minded Bhupati talked a great deal about his family and lost mother. When done, he packed his things said bye with a smile. The Rainlover was staring at him in a laid back position with his elbows supporting his body. While Bhupati was some 10 meters away, the Rainlover asked, ‘So, is the son successful in obeying his mother the way he wants to?’ Bhupati looked back with a smile and said – ‘No son can be!’ Then he was gone!