Happy New Year -- an incident that spooked me!

Another day, another walk but this time the incident was not so pleasant. Ok.. let me start at the beginning.

I was walking home from work when I noticed this rat darting out of a hole in the road. I had this goofy smile on my face regarding the sad state of roads in Bangalore. When I finally looked away, I noticed a boy (an adolescent) running towards me with his hand thrust out yelling "Happy New Year". Now, for some vague reason, I did not want to shake his hand and so I shook my head and mouthed "No". The lad looked mentally unsound. My not shaking his hand irritated him no end. He continued to insist while I ignored him and walked on. He was soon following me, blocking me, and at the same time shaking hands with the other folks on the road. After running ahead and shaking hands with a guy on the scooter, he came running back and said, "Why are you insulting me? Happy New Year. Last chance". I started panicking big-time. I called the Arien on the phone and told him of the incident.

I noticed that the lad was still following me so I slowed to a snail's pace. I wondered why I decided not to shake his hand. Thankfully, because I had slowed down, he was now ahead of me and I could keep him within my eye-sight which was a major relief! While I was talking on the phone, I noticed that the lad tried shaking hands with a young gal and she ran as if a mad dog was chasing her. I felt that I had done the right thing by not shaking his hand. He walked into a bakery and I continued walking. I stuck to the main road, and kept a close watch to see if he was following me. I was so glad to reach home. I finally cut the call with the Arien.

It was a small incident but it scared me no end. He was blocking my path in the middle of the road and no one even noticed. When he saw that I was likely to scream, he fled to shake hands with the guy on the scooter. Walking is no longer risk-free. You could come across loony folks like him and you would swear never to walk again. Ok - thts carrying it too far. Anyway, I never saw the boy again but I still keep a sharp lookout for the likes of him.