Walking with strangers

I went out for a walk, late in the evening yesterday. I've always loved walking in the drizzle, without an umbrella, feeling the light rain on my nose. As I walked, I sensed someone walking close on my heels. I am a moderately fast walker and increased my pace, so that I could walk ahead of the person and in silence of ghost like thoughts. The steps however also hastened. I glanced sideways to see a s

lightly elderly gentleman walk beside me. We exchanged a hesitant smile and walked along silently.

We walked for about 5 minutes in silence before, each of us started talking about aimless, things..things that might not have any meaning in any context..but a conversation nevertheless. He told me about, how he liked walking every evening, counting the trees, talking to some street dogs, sitting in small coffee joints, watching children play. I told him about how I talked to the questions in my head, hummed songs, wrote poems on my phone, imagined what the dogs talked amongst themselves and made their dialogues, played football with pebbles, etc. In the end, we stopped for coffee at a quaint shop, had our coffee s in silence and vanished into our own silences.
Sometimes conversations on the road can be far more enriching than those in a coffee shop or in manicured restaurants, where conversation is perhaps somewhat pre-decided..on the roads, the conversation finds you and meanders on its own.