center of attention

Last evening I was walking through crowded streets for some shopping. It was sometime long after sunset. I was getting tired of carrying my helmet with my hands. So I just put it over my head such that it exposed my face. So picture this - me in black jeans, black round neck shirt, and a black helmet sitting on top of my head. The only thing not black were my shoes. (Even my socks were black)! I removed my glasses and let it hang on the neck of my shirt. It was kind of disturbing me because of how I wore my helmet. My friend didn't notice me wearing the helmet at first; and then, when he saw it he couldn't help smiling. It won't be difficult to find you in this crowd he said.

I didn't mind the occasional stare I got from people. What was important at the moment was they noticed me and let me pass. They noticed my head and sometimes even stopped to take a good look at it. But people who enjoyed it the most were the women. I noticed a woman was walking through the crowd speaking on the mobile. Her eye sockets weren't so distant. She had a huge head. I could notice from the distant her pupils were transfixed onto my helmet, and she carried a smile. She was probably on her way back home after work. And, when she passed me, she gave a light, playful, knock on the helmet.

I noticed a lot of smiles from a lot of woman that day. Most of the smiles I got made me assume that they thought I was young and crazy. Kinda realized, what the heck, its not something they see everyday. However I remember the last smile I got. This woman was probably 30-something. She looked kinda in a hurry. I was just ascending up the stairs and almost jumped into her path. She looked at me, smiled and bobbed her head in approval. Yeah! She realized what I was up to...and so I smiled at her back.

I was just celebrating life...