Hello, you stranger!

You ever look at a picture of yourself and see a stranger in the background? It makes you wonder how many strangers have pictures of you. How many moments of other people's lives have we been in? Were we a part of someone's life when their dream came true? Or were we there when their dreams died? Did we keep trying to get it, as if we were somehow destined to be there? Or did the shock take us by surprise? Just think, You'd be a big part of someone else's life and not even know it.

I am the kind of person who grabs the window seat while travelling and loves to spend time on my terrace or my balcony just observing people. I love looking at lovers walking hand in hand because they make me believe in love. Watching a father hold his daughter's hand while crossing a road, filling me with feeling of security. Watching a young girl touching an elderly person's feet at a restaurant, reminding me of the ways of Indian life.

Then there are those people who you just speak to for just a minute or even lesser. Be it the person you asked for directions , or someone who helped you lift your books , or someone who let you go first in the auto because you told them you were in a hurry. Who are they? No one knows. Will we ever run into them again? Maybe. Do we remember them or how they looked? Maybe not. Do we know their name? Maybe not. And does it really bother us not being able to recall the person's name? Somehow, they are just one of the million 'random' people we talk to , thank and label them as "somebody".

Do we ever think that we might be the reason for someone not being able to make it in a good college? That some stupid remark we  made would set someone back? That our child might be the reason another child couldn't get a candy? That smiling at someone can make them happy for that moment?
 The ways of the world are funny and we, luckily,  have "fate" to blame it on.

It's funny how there are SO many people in the universe and we still feel lonely. It's also funny how we meet exactly the ones we are supposed to meet. Somehow, somewhere we meet them. And more often than not, we are glad to have met them. Things change, so do situations, but all we can wish for is that , that these people don't.

One of our biggest fears is to be forgotten by the ones we never will forget. Irrespective of the number of promises they have made or of the memories we have shared with them, there is always this fear of losing them.They might leave, but make sure that for the time that they are in your life, you make it worthwhile. Make a million memories and hope to make many more. Smile. Make sure you make them smile too. Don't be afraid to step out of your world and go out of your way to talk to someone. For all we know, they might be the ones we've been looking for.

Meeting a stranger can be totally fleeting and meaningless, for example, unless you enter the individual's world by finding out at least one thing that is meaningful to his or her life and exchange at least one genuine feeling. Turning in to others is a circular flow; you send yourself out toward people; you receive them as they respond to you.