Rain or Happiness? You decide

Rains always bring with them a feeling of joy. The blast of colours from behind the screens laced with water droplets, caught my attention this Saturday evening as I drove around the city enjoying the rains that came early to Delhi this year.

Rain colour

A cup of coffee

This young boy and his enigmatic smile left me warm and smiling. He was selling gajras (small flower strings usually worn by women in their hair) on one of the busiest traffic signals of Delhi. With the rains bringing the temperatures down considerably, he was busy singing and splashing water in a huge pothole in the middle of the road. When he caught my eye, looking at him and smiling, he rushed to my window, smiled his big happy smile and asked me to click his photograph. After I obliged he asked me to buy some gajras as well. I, of course, could not say no to that smile. So I came home with the fragrance of rain infused with the fragrance of the white flowers.

White and the brilliant smile

Offering me beautiful flowers, with that brilliant smile

He made experiencing the rains better

Stop Asking Me To Smile

Never before anyone asking me to smile irritated me this much! A weighing machine at Sarvana Bhavan, a restaurant that serves delicious South Indian food, was asking people to smile. A very rude demand coming from a weighing scale I think. :-)

Venkatesh, Nalli Saree Shop

This is Venkatesh, who assisted a friend and me on our recent saree shopping spree at Nalli. He was very business-like to begin with, showing little interest in what I had to say. Once I clicked his photo and asked him his name, he was very sweet to us and helped us pick a beautiful saree. One of my most favourite teachers, Sabiha Farhat, had taught me, almost unknowingly, that a smile and a few kind words are all it takes to make someone feel important.