The Umbrella

He saw her today as he was walking towards his office building. To be more correct he didn’t see her face, but he recognized her immediately. The slow but gentle stride, the constant gaze at the ground and the aura of mystery which always floated about her. She had an umbrella in her hand to shield her from the intense sunlight but it also hid her face. As she got closer, the umbrella tilted a little, briefly revealing a part of her face. That cute cut of hair dropping over her eyes immediately confirmed who she was. He wondered why she was hiding her face. He was quite confident that she had seen him. He was loud and had a prominent presence in the group. From his perception, she must have seen him before he was able to spot her or her umbrella. Maybe she has forgotten him by now. After all, he was just another guy. They had never spoken nor had an eye contact which lasted more than a second. For her, he was just another stranger. Someone who came in her life like the cold winter breeze. But as summer was approaching, he should now be out of her life blowing away in the wind….



It was sunny and the rays bite her on her skin. She picked up an umbrella as she exited her office building. Then across the path, she saw him walking out of another building. Instinctively the umbrella lopsided down, hiding her face from his view. She hadn’t seen him for quite a while now. Even now, he was loud and stood out in his group of friends. She had spotted him from the distance. She smiled to herself, “He hasn’t changed a bit.” He was one of the few people who made her smile. Seeing him, brought a strange happiness and warmth inside her. But they had never spoken to each other, never even had an eye contact that lasted more than a second. She was after all a stranger to him. For some reason they had never approached each other. Maybe it was better this way. Not everyone is meant to be friends. She was comfortable with him just being a stranger and she felt that he thought of her in the same way. As he drew closer, she tilted her umbrella a little so she could see his face. But her hands voluntarily didn’t tip it enough and she just saw his lips, his smile. For her, that was enough. He was like the cool winter breeze which came in her life and went away as the summer approached. But winter will come again, someday. As smiled and continued walking, a thought crept across her mind, “If only I didn’t have this pimple on my chin, I might have smiled back at him!”

His Goal!!!!

As I watched from the sidelines, he ran down the right side towards the goal. As the defense approached him, he gently dropped off the ball in the center to his teammate standing there. A shot! It went above the goal post. A sigh echoed from all around me. It was a brilliant pass and the striker messed it up. He sighed himself, then smiled and started limping back towards the midfield. In the first half of the game, he was tackled badly and he injured his left knee and shin. Remembering my own injuries, I could imagine the pain that he was bearing while running across the field. At times when the ball would be passed to him, he would gingerly limp towards it, trying to hide his pain and at the same time desperately trying to get the ball before the opponent gets it. His captain, their central defender shouted at him to get off the field but he wouldn’t. His team needed him. He needed this game and he wanted to play. He wanted to win, he wanted to enjoy the game and most of all, he wanted to give it all; to not give up. As another ball glided towards him, he said to himself, “You have the entire weekend to rest!! Start running!”.

As the ball glided towards him, his mind commanded his body to move forward to take it. As he lifted his right leg to run, excruciating pain coursed through his body. It was as if he was struck by lightning. His legs refused to move but his eyes were still on the ball as it was inching towards him. His eyes then shifted towards his captain’s face. He understood the message his captain relayed to him through that one gaze, “ I want you to rest! I don’t want to see you in pain anymore! I want you to pass the ball to the forward!!!”. It was a Thursday. He remembered the bourbons he ate in the morning and smiled. He could take a leave tomorrow and rest over the weekend. The pain was already unbearable, no harm in bearing it for 5 more minutes. As the ball came to his feet, he hesitated for a moment. The defender was charging towards him. As the defender reached him, he feinted a right. A surge of pain ran through his leg but he immediately moved left with the ball leaving the defender behind. He could see the two strikers were moving towards the goal. With as much force he could muster, he kicked the ball to the left forward. As his vision dimmed he saw the left forward take a powerful kick, the ball moving directly towards the keeper, who had predicted the shot. As the keeper caught the ball, another loud sigh echoed through the ground. Once again he smiled and started limping back to the midfield.


I saw the end whistle blow. It was a win for his team. Our slow limping friend had passed yet another ball and this time it found its rightful home, the opponents goal. As he limped passed me, I said, “Good Game!!!”. He looked up to me, smiled and replied, “Yea, thoroughly enjoyed it. Come to watch us in the finals!!”.

Penny for your thoughts!!!!

I had decided to take a bus to work last Friday. As I entered through the central door, I glanced at the back and saw her sitting at the second last, corner window seat. She was cute girl with a small stature, shoulder length hair and dimpled cheeks. She seemed fairly cut off from the rest of the bus and deep in her own world. The bus seemed fairly crowded that morning, so I made my way to the back seat and sat right behind her. She looked up at me as I passed and smiled. I saw a sparkle in her eyes and happiness all across her face; though I didn’t understand why. As I settled into my seat, I noticed that she was writing something down in a diary. Now, it has been a while since I have seen anyone write into a diary so it got be quite curious as to what she was writing. People don’t write diaries anymore, while many consider it a complete waste of time. Most people tend to write in the night, so I wondered what this girl would be writing so early in the morning.



As l looked out of the window, I noticed that I could see the reflection of her diary in the window. As I tried to read it, I regretted not having learned to read mirrored words!!! I never imagined I would need this particular obscure skill this particular morning. With some effort, I put together the words and then pegged a sentence out of it. It read, “It rained yesterday evening and it was beautiful”. As I glanced through the page, I read more happy moments; and she kept writing about things which made her smile throughout the day. At this moment, I stopped trying to read the reflected diary page. Although happiness increases when shared, she seemed perfectly content in writing them down and smiling to herself and I didn’t want to impose upon her. I now understood that glint and passion I saw in her eyes earlier. It reflected all those moments which she was remembering. Those moments made her smile yesterday and now as she wrote them down, it brought that smile back on her face. The buy one get one free offer seems very tempting.


As people passed by the bus, hurrying to their daily routines, I glanced up into the slightly cloudy sky and smiled to myself. I now know this one girl who remembers her happy moments every morning so that she remembered how beautiful and wonderful yesterday was. She is able to start her day smiling so I can surely bet that it goes much better than those who start their day sulking. She would reach her work beaming and grinning, thinking about yesterday and eager for a better today. That smile would of course be contagious and would make everyone around her smile as well.


As my stop came closer, I got up and moved towards the door. I glanced back to see that she was still writing. Occasionally she would look out of the window, always with a broad smile across her face and then immerse herself into her diary again. As the bus stopped, I grinned as got down and walked towards my office building. My thoughts were now filled up with yesterday’s football game, the jokes and bourbon chocolate biscuits in the pantry, the funny patents I read, the wind blowing on my face.....