Happiness just around the corner

There I was, on a rickshaw, trying to figure out life, the universe and all, at Panthapath, while sipping from a bottle of cola.

The rickshaw stood still. The passengers in front of me, a young couple with a baby on the mother's lap, sighed in frustration. Her scarf was touching the left wheel of their rickshaw. I pointed that to her. She handed the child to the man, glanced at me, pulled her scarf, squinted and fixed her hair -- all in a smooth motion.

A biker on my right scrutinised the surroundings. He gestured my rickshaw-puller to move backwards, forcing it to bump into a human haulier, while I was taking my sips. I dropped some on my shirt on impact. He shrugged, went over the footpath and drove away.

There was an opening in front of me but the rickshaw-puller got off to fix the chain. That human haulier took the chance and cut right in.

The driver was as old as my 12 year-old-nephew and an “expert” in using the steering wheel. The only difference was that this kid was driving on the street rather than on who-knows-how-big flat screen TV.

Meanwhile, the sweet aroma of the snacks fried in the reused burnt oil was making me hungry, but the not-so-sweet aroma from the multicoloured garbage dumped next to it by a young girl was keeping me in the real world.

She stared at me, wearing her worn-out frill dress, which, when new, must have looked gorgeous on one of the schoolgirls with matching headbands.

The rickshaw was stuck.

I tried to strike a conversation with the rickshaw-puller, but soon gave up since he seemed uninterested perhaps because I had bargained hard.

Just another humid day in the capital! I sighed and took a sip from the warm soda.

After being done with her garbage dumping, that girl came up to me and reached out her right hand. I took my wallet out, looked for a Tk 2 note but found a Tk 5 note instead. I gave her that.

She refused. Surprised, I looked at her.

She motioned towards the bottle. It was not finished, I told her.

She said she wanted to drink that.

My middle-class tenacity told me not to, but then to avoid any unwanted nuisance I handed her the half empty bottle.

This time she smiled, her yellowish teeth glistened in the fading sunlight.

She started running. I focused on the road.

Then she stopped, turned back and shouted, “Thanku!” 

Suddenly, the traffic started moving, the weather cooled down and a wave of joy swept over me.

Is happiness just around the corner? It sure is!

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