Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The Stranger from history

"Maybe its intuition,somethings you just don't question". There's been a memory hidden away in my head for quite sometime and was revived yesterday when I saw the picture of a very old and famous politician - Arignyar Anna. This incident took place when I was in class twelve. I was going home after giving my best shot at an exam at school, imagining the worst outcomes,all the way home. I was walking down Devanathan Street, holding my surprisingly "light" bag in a twisted angle and conversing in my head about why I messed up so badly in such an easy paper. My mind was a bundle of contradictions and suddenly an old man, sorry,old gentleman was walking beside me. I was surprised that I noticed someone beside me only half way down the lane. When I glanced at the uncle, he smiled. He started conversing, asking me about my school and why I was going home alone in the afternoon. His face bore a very vague resemblance . I knew I had seen him somewhere before but couldn't place it right. He introduced himself as Ashok. He was neatly dressed with a glittering silver watch on his right hand. He said that his grand children studied in the same school as mine. He then asked me where I stayed. That sent alarm bells in my head and remembering my Mom's warning about talking to strangers, acting like a "peter" ponnu , I said "Its just round the corner". I still go into fits of laughter thinking about my reply. His reaction was an amused look and as I said this I had to turn left and he had to go straight. I felt sheepish about not revealing my identity. So finally, I thought I should at least thank him for his "half-lane" company. I shook hands with him and said it was nice to know him. I also said another stupid thing "Please drop in whenever you pass by our street". *hehehe*. Well.. I wonder what he was thinking at that time. He smiled and said goodbye. I took the left turn walking the other 5 minutes home, thinking about this stranger who looked startlingly familiar. As soon as I reached home , I told mom about what happened. As days flew by, I soon forgot about the incident. One evening, on television, there was a programme about famous politicians and then popped up a picture of ARIGNYAR ANNA. That's when I heard bells in my head.Havnt I seen the same face sometime back ?. I was like "Oh my God..Oh my God " the whole day. I know it sounds kinda crazy, but, it was the first time I had experienced something close to an encounter with History..........!

5 comments:

Ice-Thorn said...

Whoa no kidding?? seriously?? well if so thn ur lucky! nice write..:)

Sharanya Rajendran said...

U dnt temme bum, abt this incident...! btw whom exactlyu saW?

s()ms!e said...

hey..i think i told mags abt it. anyways..who did i c? thats the point..i donno ;)

astute87 said...

Ashok? Aringnar Anna? Are you sure, you were awake that time? Are you sure it wasn't a dream.

s()ms!e said...

im sure tht it wasnt a dream...but im not sure tht arignyar anna=ashok.

thanks for the comment- dhivya,shara and arunesh

Stumped!

This happens whenever I take a train from Chennai to Bangalore (Ahem..read as whenever I travel alone!). After taking consecutive modes of ...