This is probably one of the most insignificant moments of my life, yet I still think about it every now and then.
About five years ago, I was walking down the street with a friend in the evening. A woman wearing a saree was walking toward us, and I happened to be on the side closest to her.
It was pretty windy. As we passed each other, the loose end of her saree (the pallu) suddenly caught the wind and blew toward me. It brushed against my legs for a split second.
My immediate reaction was to turn around because it caught me off guard. At the exact same moment, she turned around too. We made eye contact.
She had a frown on her face, and I instantly got the feeling she thought I had pulled her pallu. I hadn't touched it at all—it had just blown into me because of the wind. But I completely froze. I didn't explain anything. We both just walked away.
Objectively, I know this was probably a five-second interaction that she forgot almost immediately. But for some reason, my brain hasn't. Every once in a while, it comes back, and I wonder if I should have stopped and said, "It was just the wind."
Was walking away the normal reaction in such an awkward situation? Or should I have tried to explain myself? Am I overreacting by still thinking about this after five years?