Lost smile
The commuter buses were plying with hooting horns to strike the eardrum of the passengers, as usual. The emitting smoke was troublesome and the waiting people were rubbing their eyes in response. I got on to a bus and saw the conductor whom I knew. The memory he pushed in me was his spontaneous full-throated singing without caring for anybody. I encouraged him to carry on. His harsh romantic voice filled me with a sense of joy and excitement.
But he could not sing for long. A passenger, certainly not interested in the conductor's type of music, asked him to stop. The man didn't have many options. He stopped and concentrated on collecting fares, his main job. There was silence, but I could not like it. The smile on the conductor's face suddenly disappeared. We are not good at encouraging people trying something different. On this occasion, it was like muffling the spontaneity of a raw singer.