Smile...

When I moved into my new home, I found myself all all alone…no good morning…no one making me my morning tea…no hugs…no nothing…the first people I came across everyday were strangers…and I didn’t know it then but I was trying to change that…
Every morning, at the end of my 4 min walk from home to the gate, I used to turn to the security cabin and give the security guys my biggest ‘good morning’…and then I’d cross the road and hop into an auto to take me to the station…my criteria for picking an auto was the automan’s smile…one particular auto man stood out…not only did he smile nice, he also returned my good morning with an equally enthusiastic one…unlike the security men who looked at me like someone from Mars…
And that’s how it began…three and a half months down the line and manoj, the smiley auto man has been outside my gate almost everyday… if I’m late, he calls to check on me…if I know I’ll be late, I call to let him know…he even insisted on charging me less saying that ‘my good morning’ was worth more…no that’s not acceptable…he even has a second smiley auto man lined up for the days he can’t make it!!...
Oh…I’ve had a lot of friends tell me this is not normal and I should be careful…but I don’t want to live a life where I trust no one…doubt every nice gesture that someone makes…I’ll take the chance…
I’ve made friends among strangers…even the old security men smile just a little and mumble what sounds suspiciously a lot like a ‘good morning’!!...
I don’t begin my day alone…it’s a good feeling…and now I’m making friends in the train too…just smile friends…but atleast its not a world full of strangers…it’s a world that dares to smile back because I dare to smile…

Sketched over 3 extremely bumpy...jumpy...shaky auto rides...have to give manoj a copy : )