In the morning, I was riding out of home with the headlights on and there were these two kids - one kutti boy and one kutti girl - waving enthuly and saying 'light light'. I nodded my head in acknowledgement and tried to smile through the helmet, turned the light off. Showing motorists the light, so to speak, was a favourite 'good deed for the day' for me too, when I was a kid.

Why do people instantly point out when you have your headlights on and why do they feel good about it if they do?

I think its because people want to make a positive difference in other people's lives - without taking too much pains or getting involved too deeply. Also 'pointing headlights' produces instant results. If result divided by time taken were satisfaction...well... you can do the math.

Of course there are other things that you could point out to people - that they are smoking a cigarette, for example, or making a general fool out of themselves in some way.

Its like lifting a riging telephone. Something has to be done about it and you can easily do it in no time. So why not do it and feel good about doing something. Mind you, I am not saying all this is concious thought or anything.

Or perhaps it is that a on-headlight doesn't sort of fit the picture. Its not like the world they know of. A jarring note, sort of. Something not quite right about it. People want to fix it quick.

Or it is the society's way of enforcing its will. They won't let you leave your headlights on even if you want to. Because they think, for some reason that it is not right.

Or is it that people just want to be 'superior' if you know what I mean. Saying that they know better than you do.

Or perhaps one just grows up learning that headlight-showing is an extremely important thing, going by the earnestness with which people around you do it. It is the done thing, sort of. That perhaps explains the enthu in kids for headlight showing.

Hey this post has gone from sunniness to cynicism to general babbling. I am sorry if I was being unfair to those people to whom 'headlight showing' comes naturally, from a genuine kindness and a desire to help people, in any way, if they can.