Perceptions

Here is a story on perceptions. I ll walk you through the order of events that took place.. But you will have to visualize things as I describe, for the effect..

Imagine it's night time and you have just returned from office.. You have parked your bike in the underground parking of your apartment and are just waiting for the lift to come down. And you are alone there.. And VROOM!!! You suddenly hear a bike sound behind and you turn around to see a large man approaching on a Pulsar 200cc bike and he parks his bike in one of the parking spaces right in your line of sight with his back towards you.

He is wearing a leather jacket (one of those biker jackets that you have seen tough bad guys wear in movies) with torn jeans.. That was all that you could see in that time he came and parked.. He gets off his bike and you immediately correct your initial observation.. this man is not just huge, he is burly - 6'2", wide shoulders and buffed up biceps and arms (even through the jacket) and large hands - the kind that could cover your whole face if it wanted to!

He is yet to remove his helmet, but within that short span, you are already imagining him to be one of those crude violent-prone guys who are just looking for an excuse to beat someone up (You have seen it a million times on tv and movies.. these bullys that just beat up weaker ppl for fun).. You can picture him with a foul smelling cigarette in his mouth, a rough manly tattoo on his biceps and 5 other places and piercings on his eyebrows and other place that you don't even want to think of..

And then he removes his helmet.. he is facing away so you can see the back of his head.. he has a bandana over his head and his ear is pierced with a stud that just shines by the underground parking's overhead lights..

Fearing the worst, you frantically start pressing the lift button, hoping it would open soon and let you escape! Obviously, your luck had to play a role and as expected, the lift is still stuck on 1st floor! As you are contemplating whether to run for the stairs or cry for help, the man turns around and walks towards you..

Exactly as you pictured, he is having a non-shaven rugged look, stern eyes and big nose with flared up nosetrils.. But something about his face catches your attention and sends a shock of disbelief through you..

There is a lolly pop stick, sticking out of his mouth.. as he walks towards the lift, he looks at you, takes out his lolly pop, gives you a warm smile, licks the lolly pop and shoves it back into his mouth.. And that's when you realize.. maybe.. the world isn't so bad after all...

Note: This is based on what actually happened to me a couple of weeks back. That guy did scare the hell out of me till I saw the lolly pop and then I couldn't stop laughing for some hours after that.. especially since we rode the lift together with me trying hard not to look at him or burst out laughing!