An interesting start to the day!

The day started very differently as compared to past few days. Past few days have been very hot and uncomfortable even with the air condition on. Where as today, it was really pleasant and felt really fresh when I looked out of my bedroom window while lying in the bed.

Anyway, I am here not to talk about the weather. Of course, the weather set the tone of the day.

Yesterday, I missed my bus. I was on time. I reached at the bus stop and did not see any one and instantly I knew that I missed the bus. The next bus did not show up and I was on bus stop for half an hour in 40 deg cel temperature.

Today, I was before time for the bus. I got ready early and went to bus stop even though I was early by 10 minutes. I have to cross the road to get to the bus stop. As I was about to cross, I saw the bus zipping at the speed limit. The driver and I looked at each other and he knew that I was crossing the road for the bus. Next thing I did was looked at the empty bus stop and decided that I missed the bus. I did not feel too bad about it because it was the previous bus, not the one I was looking for. Anyway, the bus never stops for the passengers on the other side of the road. I was in the process of crossing the road with this thought process and guess what?? the bus stopped waiting for me.

I ran as fast as I could so that people in the bus have to wait for the minimum time. I hate when the bus is waiting for someone and that fellow takes his/her own sweet time to get onto the bus. I thanked the driver for waiting; the driver took off. I validated the ticket. While I was validating the ticket, I spotted an Indian looking old lady, probably around the same age as my grand-ma, smiling at me. It looked like she was with few others with similar age but not from Indian background. I smiled back at her and occupied a seat thinking that the the lady was Indian or SriLankan.

The journey was real quick. By the time I finished checking my e-mails and news paper, I was in the city and saw that the lady was about to get down with her friends. The bus stopped and people started getting down and instead of getting down the lady rushed to me and started talking to me. She told me "I am telling you this because you are of the same colour. You must thank the driver before getting down as he waited for you." She then quickly went out of the door. It took me a second to register what was happening. I saw that only the part of the group with that old lady got down. One thing though, I was certain that she was SriLankan as soon as she started talking.

Oh man, this small incident generated a ripple effect in my mind. I started thinking that she probably did not realize that I had thanked the driver when I was getting on board or did she want me to thank the driver again? Why did she tell me this? Why did she mention the colour? Did she find me that friendly to be able to take the liberty of giving me her two cents?

My mind went into a debate mode and I could write another blog about it. Her friends got down at the next bus stop and all of them said bye to me when they got down. It almost looked like that they were delivering the same message as their friend. The next stop was mine and I thanked the driver again before getting down.

I thought it was an interesting start to the day!