Big little things

A non-working day in the middle of the week works like a charm. Doubling the joy, I chose to not work on the first day of the new year,only an optional holiday. How precious is that?

That evening, after a long time, we thought we should ride around the countryside on our bike. It's always a pleasure to ride an Enfield. The drive took us to the Anekal lake and presented us with a carmine sunset over the still shallow waters. Confined to the corridors of Vastrapur campus for the latter part of the year, I think will only be able to look back at life's little pleasures such as watching a painted sky withdraw out of horizon like expensive silk sliding off a dark rosewood table inscribed with glitter. At the end of the clear day, the colours lingered even as we turned our backs and chugged on.

Rolling down the unusually slug (many offices in E-city were not working, we guessed) and therefore pleasant Hosur Road, we made our way yet another time to our deary chinese eating place China Pearl. Finding it too early to sit down for dinner and moreover needing to stretch our legs after a fifty kilometer ride, we decided to take a walk on the street. That is when my wife's slipper broke (Who listens to unsolicited advice on apt footwear for a bike ride?). A little late for a cobbler to be open, we realised, when after hunting down a repair shop found it shut. My offer to replace broken slippers with new ones was gently declined, as there were 'many pairs unused yet'.While S was dragging her right foot along, I was trying figure out how the slipper could be revived for a couple of more hours.

They say something about necessity bearing ideas, but I will qualify it as simple improvisation. An idea sprung up when we were passing by a tender-coconut seller. When I was a kid , I remembered, there was a neat way in which the tender-coconut seller would tie up two tender coconuts by using strands drawn out of the green damp shells of each of those and hang the pair over the bar of my bicycle. I still remember how the knot would survive the bumps on the road and needed to be scissored to be undone. So, there it was- an idea hanging over a pile of tender coconuts. The strands from the green shell of the coconut could be used as a makeshift tie for the broken slipper. The fix would also be inconspicuous. But even as I was explaining to the lady who was clasping a sickle about how she could help us with the the broken slipper, she offered other ideas such as giving us a safety pin. But the design of the fancy slipper would not allow a pin to fix things, so we declined and we went ahead with our idea of stringing up the slipper with the juicy strands. We were good to go!

Dinner was delectable, as expected. We have some favourites which we mix and match with new items on the menu. China Pearl has never disappointed us.

Something strikes me when I think about the evening. The eagerness of the lady to help in the situation is commendable. I do not mean to make a big deal of a safety pin offer. It is the attitude that is in point. I am sure she endures a lot of flack from the street and the public on a daily basis and it leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. And here we were talking to her at the end of her rough day explaining a weird patch-up I was attempting on the broken slipper. She was cool and eager to listen. May be, then again, only I do not meet such enthusiastic people so often.

Or am I becoming progressively cynical about people and expecting very little? Then again , may be she values human interaction. How many times do we try and listen to anything a stranger has to ask of us? Thoughts of mugging and mooching ensnare us (I will concede to the part-truth behind this). Technology is a useful raider. It robs us of basic interactions with the lure of productivity and efficiency. How many times do we walk down to our colleagues instead of picking up the phone and getting it done? How many of us know our support staff on first name basis?

Anyway, her help was appreciated and we let her know that.For the records, the slipper lasted till it was retired out to the corner of the shoe box.

I relearned, in more ways than one in the evening, that it's the little things that make life livable.