How dare she!

Returning home, weary from work

suffering the sluggish traffic,

sprawling through potholes filled with pools of fresh rain

lost in thoughts.

Wanting to reach home

to plan for Friday and the weekend

...the usual stuff.

Unexpectedly, I catch this 8-9-month-old,

squeezed between her parents on the scooter

smiling and waving at me!

I looked up startled, waking from my trance,

wondering at what just happened…

I dismissed it…

just a fleeting moment in the humdrum of life!

Few minutes later, they cross me again

…and in those few moments, she smiles and waves at me, again!

I smile and wave back at her.

Shaking off the momentary distraction,

I got back to wondering how much farther my destination was.

But that vision comes up again…

the tiny being smilingly waving at me!

How dare she disturb me like this,

from my inane existence of Monday to Sunday

In this constant quest for ‘space’

when we all distance ourselves from one another,

how dare she disturb my space, break this reverie, and breach my world with her smile?

How dare she still revel in that innocent glee

unaffected by this world deluged with shrewd manipulation

How dare she smiles at me

and touches my heart in places I have closed to the world.

How dare she finds and targets those soft spots behind the hard shell?

How dare her parents gave birth to this little thing whose very fragility tugs at my heart strings

The image does not just cause transitory ripples.

But remains embedded as a memory, tapping at my heart again and again

asking me to raise my head from the hubbub of life, wake up, and live!

How dare she!