The City of Lights

So after like ten years of missing from family marriages album two days ago I finally decided to attend my cousin's wedding in Arbab road Peshawar. My two sisters and I reached Peshawar around 9 PM and the other sister who is very used to Peshawar because of her four years of education in Islamia College suggested it would be safe if we take the other taxi which runs on sharing. It's safer and as compared to other means of transport affordable too. I then agreed and after about 3 mins or so we managed to find a cab on sharing. There was a guy in front already, so we took the back seats. We were carrying shoulder bags and just covered with only scarfs through which our blond hair was apparent, the guy thought of us as foreigners. He, then interrogated, are you tourists here to which my answer was \" Nahi hum cousin ki Shadi pe aye hain\" ( no, we are here to attend cousins marriage). Are you visiting Peshawar for the first time to which my sister said \" I have done my graduation from Islamia College, but my sisters are visiting here for the first time? This was all we talked and after five minutes or so his stop came, so he got down. He insisted very hard and paid our part of the fare too, and I was thinking on my mind how to respond to him if in return he asks for any contact to stay in touch. I have come across guys who after a little friendly talk or even a smiley eye contact ask for your number. This is what I hate the most about the guys here, and that's very very immature too. He paid the fair despite our refusal and explained the taxi driver the exact location of our stop because he knew no other language but Pashto to which we were unknown. He said welcome to Peshawar cherish your stay here and Khud Hafiz. I said, \"Dera manana\" (thank you). This was all, and he left and, our taxi started moving forward. I was surprised at how not some random guy asked for exchanging numbers and be friends! Damn!! How can some guy miss the golden chance of being friends with some cool random girls :D It was both surprising, shocking and I was grateful at the same time. Grateful because in the memory making, this guy represented a very beautiful image of what it means to be a human being, a gentleman. As he left, I kept staring at him but never for a second until he went off my sight looked back. I then realized somewhere I heard how hospitable Pathans are and my first experience in their land made me feel like thanking them for keeping alive the sense of service without anything in return. Yes, that person with his humanity, marked in my heart the message of compassion and then I talked on my head \" well an ideal life though very rare but doable and possible.\" Even though no number exchanged, no Whats App, no Facebook but real connections are through the heart, are through genuine actions that need no medium to stay in touch, but through the heart, the memories always grow. Compared to how I feel for this guy today if he had asked for any means to be in touch or be friends I wouldn't be spending my time talking about it here because in today's world rare is very rare and rarely I found a rare person worth talking about. Would that somewhere in the streets of Peshawar I get to meet this person again just for a ten minutes ride to tell him how grateful I am to have met him and that how his actions and the purity of his heart is a gift to humanity in the universe and beyond. Thank you, Peshawar for treating me beautiful, and now and forever I am in awe of meeting that gem of a Pathan guy who proved that connections need no medium to remain in touch, but only through the heart, we can all stay connected.