An Encounter of a Strange Kind

Image via Wikipedia

Mark Twain says, "“When we remember that we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained". I read this today, and it brought to mind what happened yesterday.

I went out shopping with my wife and son. As it happens, they went in and out of several stores in T.Nagar, leaving me standing outside the shops holding their bags.

On one such stop, I had waited some time, longer than usual- the man standing next to me felt familiar enough to talk. He started off by asking me whether I was of Tamil Nadu or elsewhere. I said I was a Tamil. He expressed his opinion that I did not look like one. It was only later that I realised he had meant it as a compliment.

He was a small man with a thin moustache and an emaciated face. He resembled a friend of past, who, irritated by my unshaven and untrimmed face, wanted to know how my wiw let me to get near her during the nights. That kind of man. He talked to me in a neutral tone, not meeting my eyes, but scanning the crowds like I did.

He asked me about where I was from, then he asked me where I worked, and then he asked me how much I earned, and then he asked me whether I was living in a rented house, whether my wife was working, how I made the ends meet and so on. To these questions, I answered as truthfully as possible without compromising my privacy: I mixed in some untruth too- to protect his self worth, I reduced my pay.

I was wondering why he was asking these questions, whether he could be a blogger doing some field work that would reflect in his next post- he didn't look like anyone who made money the way we usually do- not stiff enough to belong to the salaried class, not breezy enough for business. He was a strange man.

That was so till he said in passing, "If your wife would be interested in doing multilevel marketing, please call me, you can do better- it takes planning to live a happy life." So this is the point of our talk, I thought, and asked him whether he was doing Amway.

He didn't answer immediately, not directly, hemmed and hawed, and before he could finish, his wife came back heaving a luggage. She was a formidable lady, decked with jewelry and all. I was momentarily distracted by a girl in jeans and revealing tops. When I recovered my senses and turned back- he was gone.