Tag: life

Trodden and Untrodden

What a year it’s been. 2016 was difficult and, yet, unforgettable for so many different reasons. This year I explored a variety of paths. Some were adventurous, some were tiring, but almost all were fun.

This year, I saw snow for the first time.

This year, I walked through forests a lot of times.

This year, I went high above sea level, looking down at massive land mass.

I’ve had cold breeze gushing behind my ears, the blinding sun warming my spine, and cooling greenery chilling my soul.

It’s been a good year.

I don’t know which path I will head off to in 2017, but I hope it’s as good as the ones in 2016.

Or better, that’s fine too.

paths

Judge Not

We’re all always judging others. We take one look at people and pass decisions. Attire, attitude, or anything in between, could make us roll our eyes and drop our jaw.

I do it quite a lot, too. When I see someone hailing a cab, for instance, for a distance they could cover in public transport, I raise eyebrows. They’re the cause for jammed roads and blocked walkways. And yet, today, when I took a long-distance cab, I requested my driver to drop me at the doorstep. I could have just walked from the street to my door — that’s what I always do — but I’d had a bad day and was too distraught to walk that little distance.

That’s when I wondered. How would’ve I reacted if it had been someone else? The painful realisation: I would’ve raised eyebrows and shaken my head in disapproval.

Sometimes, it’s just too easy to assume. It’s too easy to brand someone as lazy, selfish, or arrogant. What’s difficult, though, is understanding their situation. We expect others to sympathise with our problems before naming us names. But when the table turns, when we have to understand someone else’s situation, we’re seldom willing.

We think first impressions make the best, but we forget that anyone could have a bad day. We think second chances don’t make a difference, but they mean the world sometimes.

Today, I learned a lesson: never judge a person on the first encounter. We could be correct, but we could also be in the wrong. Because we’d never anticipate who’d surprise us when.

And Bob Marley said it best:

Judge not

Before you judge yourself.

Judge not

If you’re not ready for judgement.

That Bus Ride

As I leaned back on my seat, trees flew past and humans became a blur. The driver had a slow and late start. He sounded short-tempered and even the slightest sign of a hold-up triggered his irritation. He even snapped at the cashiers in every toll booth.

We were running behind schedule and he had the obligation to make up for lost time with speed. He stomped on the accelerator like he’d done so many times before and the bus shot forward, covering miles in minutes.

Next to me sat a young woman with distress in her eyes. She hit the redial button on her phone for what felt like the fourth time in five minutes. Every time the call went through, the person on the other line disconnected the call. My inherent sleuth recognised a strained relationship. My intuition, however, warned me to shut up.

Feeling a sudden jolt, I returned my eyes to the whizzing greenery. We cruised by, a marred Volvo along a tarred road. I heard the driver’s annoyance again as his swearing at the other vehicles carried through to the end of the bus.

My hearing impaired for a couple of minutes because the horn had gone on for a couple of seconds. Through the window, I watched: in one quick motion, we swerved away from the road as another bus rushed toward us. Before I could draw a shuddering breath, we had swerved back on track having avoided the collision. We sailed again, and I smiled to myself. Lucky for me, almost all drivers are experts in navigating the troubling Indian roads, living to laugh about it.

A mile behind us, another driver swerved. He was no expert.