Story Trigger : Random encounters with strangers ( given by Storycoach Bob Kanegis)

 This trigger came via the storytell email group and sent me down memory lane!

Story trigger : An encounter with a stranger, which left a profound impact on you

Here goes :

I was walking to school one hot Chennai morning. We have to carry our books every day to school...(as we dont have a locker system.)
My school bag, hung over my left shoulder was heavy with books, as I usually carried most of them, for fear I would need them.
I was walking slowly, as the bag was heavy and then I turned a corner...to see  an old man coming towards me. He was hobbling along, was hunched and carrying a bag of sorts himself. Suddenly he stopped..looked at me and said (in tamil...our language). "What heavy burden you bear....and so unnecessary..."

He moved on...
and so did I ...

But I have never forgotten those words, nor the symbolism of what his words meant to me, many times in my life....

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