A simple act of a smile can make your day, lift your spirits , lift your mood and warm you deep down inside. What is really special is that once you have been touched your more likely to share that moment with others by forwarding that smile, in return making someone else's day.
This happened to me and the memory stayed with me all day and it still makes me smile when i remember....
On a tedious bumpy bus journey we finally stopped for a break, i disembarked and sat by the roadside on a crumbling wall relishing the space and the 'kind of' fresh air. Behind me in the ditch rubbish lay sprawled everywhere, however the street sellers barely seemed to notice and carried on with their bartering.
Sitting on the floor in the midst of this hustle and bustle i saw a beautiful woman with a tiny baby suckling on her breast tending to her other children whilst selling her mound of freshly picked oranges. Next to her was her daughter who must have been about three years old, a scruffy cute little thing dressed in battered trainers, multi-coloured socks and a pink and white tie dye skirt and top. She was filthy but in good spirits. She was helping her mum, picking up scraps of this and that and disposing of it behind the wall i was sat on. As she approached i said "Namaste" (hello) and immediately her blackened hands came together in a prayer clasp offering me the same greeting. A huge smile was on her face and her brown eyes lit up with joy, shyly she returned to her mother drawing her attention by putting her hands on either side of her mothers face to tell her what had happened.
Only a few minutes passed before she came back again this time shaking my hand and giggling with me - her new blue eyed foreigner! Back and forwards she went between us, staying longer with me eachtime the more couragous she felt. We played games together, clapping - her hands on mine as she laughed with delight, 'round and round the garden', naming the colours on her socks and then she had fun inspecting my watch.
Her father maybe thinking that she was over staying her welcome with me spoke to her and she quickly returned to her mother, throwing herself in her lap and bursting into tears. Her mother wiped away her tears on the fabric of her sari and soothed her. It was so sad, i was more than happy for her to be by my side.
However our encounter wasn't over and i was glad. Her father had vanished and she came over again teary eyed and snotty to take my hand. I lifted her onto my lap, she put her little arms around me embracing me in a hug, raised her head to me giving me a beaming smile. Magical!
(I must add that i did have to do the 'nannying' thing and blow her nose as it was threatening to spill over her top lip......its been a long time since i last got boogied!)
We carried on playing, creating some curiosity from the locals and passerbys, even another tourist stopped to ask if she could take some pictures. I suppose it must have seemed slightly odd, white tourist with a nepalise child sat on my lap...Unfortunately as with any good thing it had to come to an end, my journey onwards beckoned as the bus started re-filling. I took the little girls hand leading her back to her mother saying my goodbyes sadly. I boarded the bus and we set off, popping my head out of the window i waved, her mother saw me and showed her daughter. The little girl looked up waved me goodbye and flashed me with her winning smile for the last time.
It was a wonderful meeting on an otherwise boring bus journey! You could definately say she made my day .
What a simple but powerful expression a smile is!
