Things happen for a reason.
It's important to tell yourself this when you're getting screamed at. The Nachmarket vendors are very unsympathetic towards tired tourists who sit at their tables without buying things from their stands. So my friends and I were forced to take our noodles elsewhere.
We settled on a train bridge near the market and ate in silence. We had spent the past 58 hours together and believed there was nothing left to be said. After a couple of minutes we were joined by a stranger, an attractive backpacker in his late 20s or early 30s. He was also eating under similar banished-by-the-vendor circumstances and to make the proximity less awkward, he introduced himself. Name: Gregor. Nationality: German. Occupation: Musician. Status: In a serious relationship. This last detail was a slight disappointment to my friends and I, however at that time we were all going though some pretty heavy and diverse relationship issues, so it was refreshing to talk to a guy whose main intention was casual company rather than sleazy flirting. Admittedly, the reason we were so keen to make conversation with the stranger was because he was good looking. The sad but oh-so-true reality is that people are more likely to trust you if you're attractive.
Not that we gave him our home addresses, or even our names. But we were willing to talk about our travels, and Gregor had a lot of advice for every place we mentioned wanting to visit in the future. What to eat, where to visit, how to plan ahead for super-touristy attractions. Eventually the conversation shifted to love and relationships, as it so often does, and some comment was made about how frustrating boys were. Gregor laughed.
"I'm guessing you girls are somewhere in your early twenties, right?" he said. We nodded. "It's a great place to be, but I remember how confusing it was. There are a lot of things I wish I'd known back then." He then proceeded to tell us his love life philosophy in great depth. I listened politely for awhile, but as he talked I was shocked at how relevant everything he said was to my own life. I paid closer attention, constantly thinking, "Is this really happening?" because with every word I achieved greater clarity. It wasn't the typical parental "this is what is right and this is what is wrong" kind of advice people our age are usually given. Gregor spoke as one adult to another, giving us practical advice for how men and women should deal with love, attraction, and sexuality. I glanced at my friends a few times and noticed that they were as enraptured as I was. We asked questions, he gave straightforward answers. He suggested a few books that really helped him and explained how they made his life less confusing and frustrating. He told us that the most important thing was to not lose hope that things will be okay.
When he finished, he stood up, wished the best of luck to us on our travels, and disappeared into the crowd.
My friends and I were left sitting with our half-eaten boxes of noodles, completely stunned. It was like waking up from a dream, like we were all thrown back into the physical world with a complete understanding of who we were as people.
At last I said, "Did that just happen?"
One of my friends laughed and rather than answering my question, asked, "Did we just meet Buddha?"
No comments:
Post a Comment