When I was a young lad I remember this one incident when I came across the Rainbow Man for the first time. It was the start of our summer school holidays and we were boarding a plane bound for our village. We were one of the first to board and once I took my seat, I got busy observing all the passengers as the entered in a single file, heading for their respective seats. Even as a child I have always been intrigued by the range of personalities one can encounter in a public place, ranging from bored to the exasperated, calm to the irate, loud to the quiet. I always wondered how does one get affected and gets cast in a certain mould.

That particular day, as I was busy scanning faces, I came across a face which created such an impression on me that I am occasionally taken back to that moment even today. There was this one gentleman who was in a plain white shirt and black trousers who slid into the aisle behind me to occupy the seat in the back row. At first glance, there was nothing extraordinary about him. He was just an average gentleman, probably in his fifties, of medium built and average height. What struck me, however, was the radiant glow on his face and an aura of calmness he seemed to possess. His countenance had the outward reflection of a certain inward grace which until then I had not witnessed.

I remember asking my mother why that man had a ‘shining face’? My mother had by now mastered the art of answering all my far ranging and nonsensical questions in a heartbeat. She would, however, try to emphasise a certain virtue or touch upon a core life lesson when she came up with an answer. In this particular case, her answer was that the gentleman probably led a very simple life, ate all the right food, said his prayers and did no harm to anyone. In hindsight, I now wonder if maybe this was mom’s way of making me want to eat more veggies and say the ‘Hail Mary’ more often! She then also told me something which has stayed with me to this day. She said that there were some people in the world like this particular gentleman who were known as the ‘Rainbow People’. They did not belong to any particular religion nor did they come from a particular region. She added that every one of us had the potential of being a Rainbow Man. All one had to do was to lead a virtuous life, be humble and live brimming with gratitude despite all the hardships or challenges one may face.

How then would you choose to live your life? When the dark clouds gather on the horizon and the brilliance of the sun is all but hidden, do you seek the light in dark places or do you grasp the Rainbow hidden in your pocket?