Agent 007 says “the world is not enough” and lesser mortals like us say “It’s a small world!” I never thought I will find out how small it is while riding a cab in Mumbai. I wasn’t in a tearing hurry but the cabbie seemed irritated by the pedestrians who kept on straying into the vehicle’s path. At one such left turn he almost bumped into a street vendor who was not paying much attention to where he was going. When the cabbie braked hard, I braced for a heated discussion and a few choice abuses hurled back and forth.

But unexpectedly, the cabbie stretched out his hand with a smile and the vendor - after he recovered from the shock of almost being bumped off the face of earth – grasped it with an equally broad smile. I was flabbergasted! What is this? World Courtesy Day!

The cabbie offered an explanation when the cab started moving again. Looking in the rear-view mirror he grinned and said “That was my sister’s husband!” :-)