All in a Day.

What a day of coincidences.

And perhaps, the thing which intrigues me the most, is seeing how our Big world really is, so small.


Before dawn this morning, a friend took me out for my first test ride on my bicycle since my injury. 1 cracked hip, 4 muscle tears and about 8 weeks of physiotherapy later, I was ready to start strengthening my body again. On the way back, I heard a voice behind me, in that familiar odd sing-song tune

" I THOUGHT you looked familiar!" he cried.

I turned around. What a surprise. It was M, someone who I used to train with weekly, and whom I had now not seen for months.

He rode close to me, and I was afraid of colliding into him. "My wife is leaving me," he said. "I've done all I can but I couldn't stop it from happening."

We both had to rush off, and parted quickly.

At a train station in town, I heard the familiar strumming of an Indian man. His voice permeates the entire underground train station on weekday mornings. Those oldies and that rich, honeyed voice remind me of my father. I always make sure we make eye contact whenever I put money into his coin box because I want him to know, that I genuinely adore his music.

Today, he stopped me.

"I have something for you," he smiled. Reaching into his guitar case, he took out a small package wrapped in foil. "I baked for some of my friends today," he said. "This is for you. Bread pudding. I made a whole tray for my friends, and just thought for you to have this. I hope you like it. Let me know if you do, I can make more."

It tasted like cake, like the kind of cake I love- rich, dense and oh, so heavy. I can never stand mousse or fluffy cream interuppting good cake. It was gorgeously filled with golden raisins and smelled like rum. Best bread pudding I ever had, and from a stranger, too-Dennis, who gave it to me because we smiled at each other over many mornings. We exchanged contacts.

On the way to my physiotherapy appointment, another voice called out to me, "WAI JIA!"

"Lucy," I said. "It's you," I tried to sound friendly.

Lucy is a girl from church who is mentally challenged. She acts about 10 years younger than her real age. When we first met, she called me every day to ask me random questions like what I was doing and where I was. And then it became very clear to me that she was lonely because no one understood her or knew how to manage her.

"YAH. WAI JIA.YOU COMING HERE TO WORK AH? I GOING HOSPITAL TO SEE BONE DOCTOR." She had spiked hair, and an almost toothless grin.

"Oh really? I see. I hope you've been well? Okay, I hope to see you around yeah?"

We rushed off. I turned to look, and then realised that in my hurry to be on my way, I completely missed the huge bandage on her arm, didn't even ask what happened, why she got hurt. She had given me a huge smile before leaving.

When I finally reached the hospital for my appointment, I was reading my last few chapters of Vision For God, the biography of a medical missionary couple who served people with leprosy in India, when I heard another voice, "And look who we have here."

I looked up. "Oh my gosh," I said. It was the third person who had recognised me in public in my busy day of running errands.

It was one of my cycling buddies. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"My shoulder. Busted it when I fell off my bike the other day."

We left one another.

Later, I received a text message from someone I had not heard from in ages.

"How are you, Jia? I've stopped talking to him because he's still seeing that other woman. I need to think about things, this concerns my own future."

Another divorce? They have children. And you ask me why I am so... cautious about getting into a relationship.

On my way to meet a friend, I saw a familiar face on a bus about to leave me. A happy face beamed from the window and a hand waved cheerily at me. It was Joy, one of my sunday school children who had moved on to a different class. 4th person I had met within 6 hours. And the 5th person I had interacted with, whom I had not heard from or seen in ages.

It was an interesting day.

I realised, that our world really is, so small. These random encounters in a short span of time helped me see how intricately our lives are woven together, how we are all placed in a universe of colliding stars, set in entirely random and yet, perhaps, entirely planned motion. Each encounter was brisk but powerful, leaving either a beautiful memory tasting like delectable bread pudding or a bad taste in my mouth like a rancid divorce. Why I had such a day full of coincidences eludes me, but it reminded me, that we each have a part to play in one another's lives, and though to another, we may just be a face in the crowd, we just never know when we'll cross one another's paths again, how we may jog a memory so precious, may leave a footprint so deep and leave a mark so clearly on someone else's mind and heart.

Thank you for the dessert, Dennis. Keep in touch.