Life in a Metro

Please stand clear off the door.

Mind the gap.

Guess who? Delhi Metro, obviously.

Have you ever peeped in someone’s phone conversation and enjoyed the drama of their fight? Have you ever strained your ears to overhear some altercation over the phone of a fellow passenger? Have you ever seen a pregnant or elderly woman not getting a seat just because people were too damn occupied to care?

I’m sure some, if not all of you reading this, would be secretly nodding. My journey in the metro for more than 9 years now has given me all kinds of irritation and anger pangs that I can’t even try to express in words that would do justice. Public transport is ruthless. But this long journey of my life in the metro has also taught me major life lessons. And I’m going to share the most recent one with you.

As I stepped in the metro, for another 1.5 hour long ride, I was thinking of the comfort of my bed.  The thought sort of helps keeping the annoyance of being sandwiched at bay. After a long day of working on my laptop, with my lenses burning my eyes and thoughts of still figuring out my life haunting me, my annoyance reached unbearable levels.

There was a beautiful couple beside me talking in sign language since one of them couldn’t either hear or speak. Their genuine laughter, compassion and deep concern as being reflected by them really touched me. It made my annoyance disappear in a jiffy.

Sometimes we complain unreasonably. We pour our anger and irritation on our loved ones. We are always in search of more. And in all this frenzy, we fail to appreciate and genuinely enjoy what we have right in this moment. We fail to cherish the people in our lives because we are so caught up in deadlines and submissions and clients and bosses and assignments and sleep deprivation etc etc etc etc etc etc etc.

Sometimes, in our bhaag dod bhari zindagi, we forget to truly live.

I am my own lifeboat. Let me embark on voyages of my dreams and really live each and every moment to the fullest. Let me be human and love without conditions. Let me be forgiving without expectations. Let me explore. Let me live.

Let me fly. Let me embrace the world with my wings. Let me reach the limit of the sky.