perfect timing

yesterday i was walking to the office...this is a relatively normal activity for me.

at this particular point in my commute i was walking along the edge of the gach.

yesterday as i crossed the street i saw a group of 3 guys, leaning up against a fence starring down into a narrow lane where women are working. generally the women there are young. generally they're not working by choice. a few weeks ago beth and i stood in that lane talking with the girls who were working there - beginning to get to know them. learning some names, general small talk. i don't know the women well, but it's a place i'd like to spend more time.

and when i saw those guys looking like they were into that lane where i knew women were standing out...looking lustfully, looking like they were at a meat market, anger settled in my heart. i will spare you the inner monologue/stream of consciousness, some things are better left un-said, but suffice it to say...it wasn't pretty.

so there i am, walking to work...really angry...saying very hateful things in my mind...and suddenly i see my friend/co-worker Upendra. we stopped, had a brief chat...he filled me in on some details of the day that i needed to know, and i asked him a bangla vocabulary question. and in the midst of a relatively trivial conversation, his presence changed my heart...i'm so thankful i bumped into him when i did...otherwise i would have finished my "commute" to work with an angry heart. it would have softened when i got to Sari Bari...when i saw my friends, when we started chatting about our weekends...but i'm thankful that i bumped into Upendra 5 minutes earlier...