I would put today as one of the top 5 days of my life till date, and hopefully one of the most memorable till my last day.
The day began as any other day, crowded traffic, problems in breathing…..and so on. After a relatively hectic engagement (geez I hate to be busy) around 4:30pm I was on my way back home. On the Trinity Circle I took a wrong turn and instead of going to MG Road, found myself moving towards Airport Road, cursing and extremely irritated I finally could take a cut in front of Leela Palace Hotel. On the way to make sure I thought of asking someone.
It was then that I saw this man who was trying to cross the road, so I stopped and enquired. He was an elderly man and took extreme care to guide (frankly it was quite refreshing) he explained the route I should take, systematically without any hurry (I love such people), and I too was looking at the road ahead and trying to comprehend (too many direction gets short circuited in my CPU!!). As I was thanking him he smiled. That’s when something clicked. “Now….now haven’t I seen your face somewhere before….i know you….yes I know you” as I blurted these my memory went almost three decades back, the year was 1984. The brilliant face of a young man talking to then PM Indira Gandhi from the Space came flashing. Mrs. Gandhi I recall quite distinctly, asked “apko vahan se Bharat kaisa nazar atha hai?” The young man replied in his characteristic exuberance-that we had so got used to those days “saare jahan se acha hindustan hamara !!”. He was the person most kids wanted to become those days. He was an icon. He defined asignificant moment in the country's history. Today when I extended my hands and tried to stand up from my two-wheeler, as an act of respect, the smile is just the same. “Yes I am Rakesh Sharma”, as if I needed confirmation. In the cacophony of horns and speeding vehicles it took me sometime to seep in the significance of having met a great man, the idol of a generation. He crossed the road and I too moved on. The unlikeliest of place to meet an amazing man.
The day began as any other day, crowded traffic, problems in breathing…..and so on. After a relatively hectic engagement (geez I hate to be busy) around 4:30pm I was on my way back home. On the Trinity Circle I took a wrong turn and instead of going to MG Road, found myself moving towards Airport Road, cursing and extremely irritated I finally could take a cut in front of Leela Palace Hotel. On the way to make sure I thought of asking someone.
It was then that I saw this man who was trying to cross the road, so I stopped and enquired. He was an elderly man and took extreme care to guide (frankly it was quite refreshing) he explained the route I should take, systematically without any hurry (I love such people), and I too was looking at the road ahead and trying to comprehend (too many direction gets short circuited in my CPU!!). As I was thanking him he smiled. That’s when something clicked. “Now….now haven’t I seen your face somewhere before….i know you….yes I know you” as I blurted these my memory went almost three decades back, the year was 1984. The brilliant face of a young man talking to then PM Indira Gandhi from the Space came flashing. Mrs. Gandhi I recall quite distinctly, asked “apko vahan se Bharat kaisa nazar atha hai?” The young man replied in his characteristic exuberance-that we had so got used to those days “saare jahan se acha hindustan hamara !!”. He was the person most kids wanted to become those days. He was an icon. He defined asignificant moment in the country's history. Today when I extended my hands and tried to stand up from my two-wheeler, as an act of respect, the smile is just the same. “Yes I am Rakesh Sharma”, as if I needed confirmation. In the cacophony of horns and speeding vehicles it took me sometime to seep in the significance of having met a great man, the idol of a generation. He crossed the road and I too moved on. The unlikeliest of place to meet an amazing man.So here I was enquring the direction from an astronaut!!. That is life for you!!!!
