The Jute Bag

It had been a lazy Saturday morning. Sleep beckoned me, early morning dreams were just catching up. Just as when, the alarm rang and showed 10 o’clock. How could I forget? I had committed to meet my friends at the local multiplex to catch up on a movie. As usual, I was running late and my friends chose to pester continuously to come early. To add more to the confusion, office calls started to pour in. My Saturday morning was filled with amusement. ‘Oh Man! What do I do?’ My mind was constantly juggling between these thoughts as I hastily made my way to the nearby bus-stop.
I hurriedly boarded the bus to the multiplex. And fortunately, I got the chance to grab a window seat and enjoy the light drizzle along with the cool breeze. What a beautiful morning! The droplets withered like tears. The kids were dancing on the streets while the adults were alarmed and all out with their umbrellas and raincoats. ‘Change, change! Please remove change’, shouted the bus conductor. Now as my luck would have it, I took out a 500 rupee note from my purse. ‘Yeh kya hai? Chutte do madam!’, angrily saying, he snatched the note from my hand. ‘Baaki paise baadmain lo’, said he. God gracious! Wasn’t the morning not eventful that you had to add more excitement to it? And then my mind started swaying the philosophical way. God, if you are listening, why you had to bring this rude conductor my way? That too on a Saturday. Couldn’t you send a smiling face to light my day?
I was immersed in my thoughts. I didn’t realize the presence of this woman who came and sat beside me. Bespectacled face, flowers well placed in her oiled hair. My mind started to analyze her. She must be visiting her relatives. As I went observing her, her bluish-grey jute hand bag caught my eye. It made me nostalgic. I remembered my college days when I extensively used jute hand bags. ‘Hello Aunty! Your handbag is extremely beautiful. Where did you buy this from?’ I asked her. She smiled. ‘Hello. My brother gave me this bag. He stays at Hyderabad. He keeps getting such bags. He has given me 5 similar bags.’ Thereafter she started to describe her brother’s profession in Hyderabad. And suddenly she exclaimed, ‘You can take this bag if you have liked it so much’. I was startled. Amused and taken back. ‘How can I take this? It is yours. How would you carry your parcels if I take it?’ I said. She reiterated she has five similar bags and I could take it. My happiness knew no bounds. I was so happy at that moment. ‘If you are so readily giving it to me, I will surely take it’. And to my surprise, I accepted the bag. She then mentioned that she never carries the bag when travelling on weekends and it was in my fate today that she did. And that it was written in my destiny to have the bag. Saying this, she abruptly departed from the bus and got over at the bus stop.
I was speechless for a moment. ‘Thank God! I admit you do create gems of people like her. Thanks for bringing her today in my life. You made my day’. And the rain started to pour heavily as if answering my thoughts. Even God could not disagree.