Ana-Maria, the woman in orange

Ana-Maria. Isn't that a beautiful name? Formed by joining two commonly used names, the two of them can exist independently but when concatenated form a more beautiful bond. I heard this name for the first time a decade ago. The Romanian software programmer, with flowing black hair, raised the levels of enthusiasm in the team to get the work done the fastest possible way. I was amused by the Ana-Maria effect. Years later, I came across another Ana-Maria when I was strolling the quiet streets of London a week back. I didn't know her name was Ana-Maria initially. But like the earlier Ana-Maria, this one too left an impression.

This Ana-Maria did not have flowing black hair. She had auburn hair. But it was not the hair that caught my attention. It was the color orange. She had a scarf and shoes which were orange in color. She was dressed formally. While I was walking the streets in lazy pace, she whizzed past my side suddenly emerging from back out of nowhere. She was not running, but she was in a hurry. When such things happen, you tend to admire the only view you have. But in this instance, the orange color was drawing my attention to her scarf and shoes. Since the time I took up camera, I have begun to like these colors. Give me red, pink, yellow, or orange any day. When you are photographing a person in a crowd, these colors are striking.

I still didn't know her name. But since she was walking in the same direction as I was going, I looked at her shoes and also her scarf. Scarf is an attractive accessory. When you don't see the face, scarf drives your imagination and paints a picture of the person in your mind. In this case, she had draped the scarf elegantly on her neck making her graceful and beautiful in my mind. While I was admiring her, a little girl and a man both dressed formally shot past me from my back. They were trotting after the woman in orange. In the midst of hurrying to catch up with her, the man was softly calling out her name. Ana-Maria...Ana-Maria. Very soon, they were able to catch up with her. With great efforts, I averted my gaze while the trio had a private argument in a public place.

Although I summoned up all the reserves of energy, I couldn't help stealing occasional glances at Ana-Maria and presumably her family while passing. Ana-Maria was on the verge of sobbing but demanding in whispers when she was not trying to suppress the anger and hurt  from escaping from her body. Her husband was intently listening but poised to put forward his point once Ana-Maria has finished. Her daughter was watching her not taking sides and isolating her dad or mom but while empathizing with both of them. As a family, there were handling it well. How many of us can do that?

Tags: Musings,London,Woman,Orange

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