As I was on my morning walk in a park a few days ago, an elderly man buttonholed me giving an earful about the Madras summer. “Don’t you think it has started too early with a bang, this year?” he rued. The best way to start a conversation is to talk about the weather, I thought and I agreed with him. Looking at his bald head shining with sweat dripping down his face, I said it was getting difficult to continue my morning walks as it tends to get warmer earlier in the day.
“Not for you madam,” he observed pointing to my blue cloth hat. I have been wanting to ask you... from where could I get a similar one, but in white?” he asked.
It’s a long story I said, adding he was not the first person to compliment me on my hat. I told him a cabbie in Sydney went into raptures about my hat and thought it must have cost me a fortune. Getting more interested in hearing my ‘hat story’, the stranger who introduced himself as a retired Professor of English sat on the nearby bench and requested me to join him. I obliged albeit a moment’s hesitation.
I harked back to the day years ago during our tour of Australia when we visited the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in Brisbane. As we were admiring the baby koalas and kangaroos, it suddenly started raining and I rushed towards a small shop selling umbrellas and hats. I was torn between buying a hat costing 20 Australian dollars and an umbrella costing much less and decided on the former. I never regretted it. I soon found my hat doubled as an umbrella as well, with its wide brim that could be pulled down to protect my ears. After returning to Chennai, I found that using a hat was easier as it didn’t come in the way of fellow pedestrians.
The other day I persuaded my husband to wear my little treasure when he had to go out on an errand during mid-day. He returned without my hat and was profusely apologetic for losing it. He said he did not remember where he had left it as he visited a few banks situated in different places. I lost all hopes of finding my precious hat. But I was wrong. When I visited one of the banks recently, the lady behind the counter immediately pulled out a small cloth bag from her drawer saying, “Your husband had left it on the counter the other day, I was waiting for one of you so that I could return it.” I felt moved and was at a loss for words!
N Meera Raghavendra Rao
Email: meera45@gmail.com