Surprises surprise

I really like the little surprises that life sometimes throws at you... i like them almost as much as the assurances of the stable factors of life.To put things in perspective, let me begin my describing my life. I moved to Delhi from Bombay a little over a year ago. Bombay has been and always will be home. And to a Bombay person (we are not bombay-ites!) delhi never can be home. Anyway, my friends are primarily in Bombay and i have not been able to make new ones here. I attribute that to a combination of my own mental block and some realities of Delhi-ites. Net result is an almost friend-free life.

That's where the assurances of life make me smile. There is something about old friends and people who have known you over a sheer volume of time that is such a comfort. Conversations pick up from the most intimate issues and there is no discussion of inconsequential aspects of life. And the best part is there is completely clarity on the fact that politically correct conversation is inconsequential.

There is also a fresh comfort in the fact that you can meet people for the first time in your life and just hit it off with them with almost the same chemistry with absolutely no rational explanation. And its often best not to even look for that explanation. Because that messes up the chemistry. That's the thing about life, it surprises us pleasantly and that surprises us more than the unpleasant surprises. We start to look for reasons why its happening to us. Ever wonder why? We do not question when bad stuff happens that much, because most of the time, its easy to say life sucks. But when life does not suck, that's when we wonder.

The surprises of life come in all forms. Significant forms like a new friend in an alien city who can sit you through a session of coffee listening to you rant and rave about life like you would with an old friend. Sometimes its really small forms, like there is this 1.5 year old child in my building who has this adorable way of waving to me before i go to work or the watchman in my office building who makes sure he wishes me good morning every morning no matter where he is. These are small things but they surprise me and bring a smile to my face. And while the smile may not be as broad as the smile that an old friend brings, the fact that there are new things that make me smile, that brings the warm glow to fill the void.

Hum of the day: I hope I am the source of surprise in someones life - I haven't tried but now I will.