Surprise!

On Saturday, I woke up feeling... well... let's just say 'not myself'. Yes, yes I know I need to get that blood test done asap. I'm not being lazy! I just don't wanna go to another doctor and have to explain the whole story again. Maybe it isn't such a bad idea to print that blog post and pass it to him instead of the 'medical history' form.

Anyway, I got up and painfully made my way to the library to do my assignment which is due this week. This library has huge glass walls and you can see what's happening inside. As I walked towards it, I noticed an incredibly cute toddler, all of three maybe, sitting on the library floor right next to the glass walls. Mommy was perhaps busy in the magazine section, finding out 'how to look thin in 5 minutes' and the bored kid was trying to keep himself busy. By pressing his little palms (which were like a quarter the size of my palms!) and his tiny nose against the glass, looking at the world outside.

The sight was so comical that in spite of not feeling well, I could not help but smile at him. I expected him to blush and scoot, as you would expect a toddler to do, but he actually smiled back, with his nose still pressed against the glass wall. I burst into laughter. He waved at me. I waved back.

And just like that, my day was made. I did not feel ill anymore.

I could not help but wonder -- we love surprises, don't we? We expect our near and dear ones to give us surprises. But without even knowing it, we're getting surpises all the time. Everywhere we look, strangers around us are surprising us with simple smiles and gestures.

- The bus driver who grins at me because I just dashed towards his bus (dressed in formals) in the most un-lady-like manner.

- The cleaning lady at work who smiles at me because I made sure I did not step on the part of the floor she was mopping.

- The lady at the bus stop who offers me a lift under her umbrella during torrential rain because I forgot mine at home.

- The tea guy who cracks really bad jokes when we go to buy tea from him just because he wants us to talk to him beyond "One tea please".

- The colleague I barely knew who gave me the pink gerbera.

- The little boys and girls who work at MOS burger and grin at me when I ask them for a spoon to eat my spicy MOS cheeseburger (don't laugh, the ultra delicious sauce spills out if you try to eat the burger the usual way!).

- The cleaning lady who empties my dustbin at work every day, and chats with me in spite of not knowing much English.

- The canteen guy in uni who probably sees thousands of faces every day and yet, recognises me after three years and asks, "You study here before, isn't it?"

- The school kid in the bus who shyly asks me for 30 cents because he does not have enough change to pay his bus fare, and profusely thanks me thirteen times before alighting.

- Strangers on my blog leaving messages with that instant connection factor, making me feel like I have known them for ages.

Look out. Strangers are giving us surprises all the time.