Thank You

An unlikely setting,
To cause introspection;
A bus that I boarded
For commutation.
As I bought a ticket,
For an extra second I lingered,
Thanked the conductor
For the service he rendered.
He gave me stare
Of utter disbelief.
As if I had chanted a curse
To cause endless grief.
Coming to terms
With what I had said.
A widening smile
With a scratch on the head,
“No one ever says that”
Aloud he exclaimed.
“Thanks for your thanks
My day is made.”
As I alighted,
A teacher I remembered;
Mrs. Chaturvedi
And a lecture she delivered.
Asking us
To thank all we should.
Cause the world was lacking
In deserving gratitude.

I think of my teacher,
And the teachings she lent.
Today I know,
What she had meant.
“Thank you teacher,”
I silently say.
“For it was you who made
The bus conductor’s day."

- Himanshu