Lessons in silence.

While returning home today after having a relatively uneventful match of cricket, I, for some unknown reason, decided to take the kaccha rasta. Halfway down the road, I saw an old man lying on the side, with an even older looking golden colored Luna opposite to him. Old is surely gold. As I was passing, he beckoned me towards him, and I stopped. I'd put him around 80 years old. He didn't seem to be able to speak, because he first pointed towards himself, then towards his Luna, and then made a kicking action with his leg.

I understood the message; he needed help in starting it.

At first, I felt alarmed. Was this some trap to steal my cycle? (it's anyway worn-out, they'd have problems with it.) But then I saw the look of helplessness in the man's eyes and immediately got off the cycle. As I studied the dated controls on the handlebar, I realized this was going to be no mean feat. I tried searching, unsuccessfully, for the kick start, but it was of no use. The old man saw what I was doing and slapped his head. OK. Pretty embarrassing. He slowly got up, shuffled towards me, then tardily guided my foot towards the pedals. He then pointed towards the accelerator, while at the same time kicked into the air with his foot again. I understood what he meant, kicked the pedals, and accelerated. Nothing happened. The old man slapped his head again and produced a pitiful noise from his throat. I really felt like just leaving him there and running away, but decided against it. I took it up as a challenge.

The old man did all the previous actions again, and then pointed ahead. "Aap chahaten hain mein chale jaoon?" I asked him, speaking for the first time. He shook his head, repeated the action, this time more vigorously. I got it. I had to run and then kick! This was turning out to be more than what I had bargained for. So I ran ahead, kicked the pedals, and- baam! I fell down.
There was a loud impatient noise behind me, the old man was looking livid, slapping his head. I quickly picked up his Luna, and stood aside. He pushed me away, and beckoned a passerby. The old man showed him what to do, but the other guy shook his head and walked away. This made me angry, and I decided I wouldn't go away without helping this man.

So I silently took the ruthless Luna in my hands again, and followed the procedure. Voila! It worked! A spluttering noise came, and the phatphatiya came to life. I looked around, to see the old man smiling jubilantly. As I was handing him the Luna back, I left the accelerator, and it switched off. Arrrgh! The old man slapped his head, yet again. I tried valiantly to start it again, but failed. After I guess six tries, it finally took some pity and made the disgusting noise again. This time, I carefully and slowly handed the bike back to the old man, who was looking really happy. He kept his hand on my head, and I could understand all the things he wanted to convey to me. That moment, I realized that actions speak louder than words. He then drove away, leaving me standing there for quite some time, the image of his twinkling eyes still imprinted in my mind.

I learnt a big lesson today, I needed to improve my communication skills!

-

Bluaaks

Mad-Ear.