Serendipity: September 2011

I went with my dad to the photocopiers' today. While we were waiting for the photocopy, there was a power outage. Since the guy's machine stopped working (duh..), we said we'd come back in an hour or so and my dad pulled out the car.

Right then, in the middle of the dark, dilapidated street, I noticed a man standing almost with his back to me. From what I could make out using the single distant streetlight, he was wearing a bottle-green button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, beige colored bell-bottomed pants, and black shoes. He also had a mustache, a beard and a bushy ponytail.

But what really grabbed my attention towards him, was his hat. That's right, he was wearing a hat at 9 pm in the streets during a power outage, after heavy downpours left even the more developed parts of Karachi in puddles. And a black bowler hat, from what I discerned.

Man, I thought. All this guy needs for the perfect image is some snazzy jazz music playing in the back, and maybe a neon sign or two.

And then it suddenly dawned on me. The hat! Without it, that man was a normal man working for a living. With it, he momentarily transported me to New Orleans. (Or what I know of it, anyway).

Just then, the electricity returned, and I noticed, to my utter dismay, that it was not a bolo hat as I had imagined, but a baseball cap.

Disappointment coursed through my veins for quite some time, but I eventually recovered quickly, consoling myself with my new discovery. I still could not get over the fact that something as seemingly insignificant as a hat, could make such a world of difference in my perception of someone.

At home, I went and Googled the word 'hat'. Since Google never fails me, a lot of interesting links popped up. The one I found most interesting was an entire website dedicated to quotes that were related to hats. I'm posting the ones relevant to my theory here, along with some pictures of these awesome black bowler hats.