We have all read stories of people with exceptional stories, people who have recovered and succeeded against what seemed like insurmountable odds. These stories are exceptional indeed and inspire like no other, showing us that it is possible to make our lives as good as theirs. However, what we haven’t talked about, is an everyday experience, how what seems like an ordinary day becomes extraordinary, how it is possible to experience the best in everything we do, and have an amazing tale to tell at the end. The following is a diary entry from a student of BITS Pilani K.K. Birla Goa Campus titled, “An Everyday Experience”
It was a typical hot day and here I was, waiting for the train that would take me to the sailing club. Due to a highly irritating promise I had made to my mother, I was forbidden from playing ‘cricket cup’ on my mobile phone to pass the time as I normally did. I decided
to interest myself by watching everyone around me.
Most of the people around me were specimens of that typical, delightful my laporean chennaiite wearing either lungis or veshtis, as concerned with other people’s problemsas with their own stomachs. However in the afternoon, the time at which I was traveling, these people were mostly fast asleep. Since my compartment was quite empty and uninteresting, I started looking out at Chennai. It was really quite a beautiful place. Unlike antiseptic, ultra clean places like Singapore, Chennai was buzzing with life be it mosquitoes or humans. We do have a lot of trees too. In most of the places, people were chiefly occupied and highly focused on their activities which mainly consisted of deriving entertainment from a bat and a ball (cricket).
In 20 minutes, I was given an unbiased tour through all parts of Chennai. It was wonderful how so many varied cultures, people and beliefs coexisted in one place. The loud and boisterous temple festival, the people singing in the church, the mosque broadcasting its prayers on speakers. The man calmly jumping a traffic light, the dutiful citizen who waited even though the roads were empty and thousands of other things. Amazingly, I had never before stopped and appreciated these things even though I knew they took place, being an Indian at heart.
Soon, with the compartment virtually empty, I felt like a king in my territory. I had complete freedom to stretch my legs onto the opposite seat and soak in the sunshine (not that I wanted to).
The sun had by now ensured that the few remaining people in my compartment were in the arms of sleep. To accompany the visual movie taking pace through the train window, I now had surround sound though it mainly consisted of snoring.
All good things come to an end though and so did the train journey. After it pulled into beach station, I started on the long walk through the breeze scented with coal dust that would see me at the sailing club, reflecting on my experience and thinking how I should do this more often.
On the way back, I consecutively won 6 matches in cricket cup.
Nothing like doing something differently to break the monotony…
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