Romanticizing the functionality of fleeting human interactions.
“to the people we may never see again…to the beauty of fleeting conversations”
I said hi to a stranger today.
The stranger was a lady.
Well… i didn’t say hi directly, i just saw something that caught my attention and i complimented it.
We were walking the same path today but I just don’t think i’ve seen her before. She wore a blue dress and held a very pretty clutch purse. I thought it looked very chic and I recalled that there was truly no harm in complimenting it. Plus, it could make her day as well, so i did it.
“Hi..” I said. My voice slipped out too low, completely swallowed by the hustle of the street, hence, she didn’t hear me the first time. After the first hi, i almost reconsidered my decision but i fought that thought and went for it again, “hello”
She turned back sharply with a sudden intensity of someone who had just been told there was free money somewhere behind her. I smiled to lighten the mood a bit and said “i like your bag”
Her eyes glimmered with gratitude and then she said, “thank you” with a soft smile.
The exchange was complete, the loop closed. I didn’t regret my decision.
She continued on her way and so did I. I felt relieved that that was over and my focus could return to the other things i wanted to get done before heading back to my hostel. One of them was getting fruits and veggies.
I walked briskly towards the…kiosk? shop?…stall, i don’t know, it’s kind of an open space so i’m unsure of what to call it. Stall…i’ll stick to stall.
“Good morning” I heard.
The person wasn’t speaking to me but to one of the Hausa men I met there. It was the lady I had complimented earlier. We were headed the same way apparently. I turned my head sideways, towards her direction briefly and then fixed my attention back on the fruits i wanted to purchase. She was getting veggies as well.
“What’s your name?” I heard her ask with excitement laced in her tone. I turned towards her awkwardly, caught slightly off guard but smiled a little bit and responded to her question. She smiled again and said, “oh okay, you look nice”
i smiled and threw the same question back at her and she responded. I didn’t think too much about it because what were the odds that we were going to see each other again.
I think there’s this subtle absence of pressure that floats between two strangers. There’s the freedom from continuity that settles calmly in the air, knowing that the brief relationship between them remains in the present tense. I think it’s a beautiful thing to converse with someone you might never see again, it kind of reminds me how we’re all wired to communicate and interact. It really doesn’t have to end with people we know.
The ability to interact with a stranger for a very brief moment has a sense of connectedness to it. Connectedness to humanity and connectedness to the beauty of human nature.
We didn’t become friends and we didn’t exchange numbers either. We bought our veggies, finished our errands, and faded back into our separate routines.Truthfully, i liked that a lot. We had a brief chat without the consciousness of starting something grand. The beauty was in the brevity. No future expectations and no theatrical performance to sustain. Just two different people who communicated lightly without the intention of coming any closer.
it felt light.