easy way to office....... or is it??

trinnnnnnn trinnnnnnnn well thats not how exactly as my alarm goes, but the poor thing is snoozed off atleast six times before getting any acknowlegdement.... and so begins my day....yaaaaaaaaawn.

At around 8 30 I am on road along with my friend cum roommate cum team member, bracing ourselves up for the ordeal that lies ahead.The first mode of transport is auto, which by God's grace we get just outside our building.

We get down at the middle of a tri-junction before the station. And how we cross roads amidst hundreds of autos and buses still surprises me. Its exciting enough to give any elderly person a heart attack. No autos stops for you.... in case you are expecting it.
So what do you do...
Lemme tell you .... take a deep breath, and march forward signalling autos to slow down ( its foolishness although to expect chivalry from them). If you survive this then come along to take a ride in the mumbai's very own local trains.

Since we have passes for the trains, I must say this makes life a bit easier for us. And at the moment save me from describing the never ending queues, and the ever running time.

We had three options the 9 10 fast train from platform 3 or 9 04 fast from platform 5.
No prizes for guessing we took the latter. The train came and it went and we were left dejected at the station, for we still didn't know the art of travelling by hanging on to the doors.

By this time the 9 06 slow local too had left platform 3. So we went for the first one, which was about to leave. "Hey run... train jaane wali hai"... I had the option of getting into first class or the second. I looked at the former and thought "I wish i were a few more kilos less, I could have definitely squeezed in"; cut short my thought and barged into the second class ladies compartment which was still not overflowing with humanity.

Wow we got into the fast train. The sense of victory written all over our faces. But it was short lived. As the train halted at stations we found ourselves being treated like lemons, and by default treating others as well in the same fashion.
Just then a female tells me "thoda andar jao na.... kitni khali jagah hai.... double line banao.... "
I wondered 'huh !! aapko jagah kahaan dikh rahi hai.. yahaan to hilne ki bhi jagah nahin hai"
Arey itni to jagah hai..........
Theek hai to aap hi cahle jayiye.......
And while she tried in vain to get inside...... I gave in to her demand and decided to go into that virtual empty space she had pointed to...

Minutes later i found myself in a Hrithik Roshan kind of position( idhar chal main udhar chala...) leaning at an angle of 30 degress from the vertical over a plump lady desperately holding on to her fourth seat on the seat meant for three people. She bore my weight for the next fifteen minutes, as my leg muscles stretched to their limit and i tried in vain to keep my feet on the ground and hold on to the handle way beyond my reach.
The only thing that drew my attention away from my distress were the constant babble of middle aged aunts, shouting and screaming at each other, for the virtual space.Now I know what people mean when they say " you have to have an ear for music"......... nevermind even if they don't say so..

A few more stations, and I had decided to give my resignation.
Finally I got to stand on both feet. I am at a loss of words to describe that feeling. After spending some moments of bliss it was time to 'make an effort ' to move near to the door so that you do not end up getting down beyond your destination.

While we were tacitly congratulating ourselves at this decision of ours, standing on both legs, one female suddenly realized that station she is supposed to get down at is about to come. "Please lemme go ... mera station aane wala hai"
Everyone wondered "aapko Bandra utarna hai…to abhi tak kya kar rahe the??..
"haan ... thoda jagah do na......."
She desperately or rather violently tried to make her way stamping on innumerable feet (including mine), still having the sympathy of the aunts around and I inspite of my best efforts to think well... wished that she misses her stop.

As me and my friend exchanged tired glances, forcing a smile, in the hope that this would lessen our miseries, we saw our efforts of formal dressing going down the drain. “What is the point of pressing our clothes, when it has to get crushed so miserably?”
Neither of us needed an answer. In the mean while we reached Dadar station.

The train stops for only around 25 – 30 seconds and in that time around hunderd people get down from a single compartment while another hundred are waiting to get in. How? Don’t ask. I shrugged to get this unnerving piece of information out of my head and allowed my self to be carried forward out of the train. But lo after all these months of training, I failed to get out of it face forward. Even before I realized, I had been torqued by 180 degrees. It surely must have been the fruits of my past life’s deeds that I came out unscathed. And while I was gasping for air, my sweet sandals decided to add to my agony. …………Here I was left with only one question in mind.
Why do sandal straps have to give way at such times??????

This question assumes all the more significance when even after much pleading none of the taxis agree to take us to our office, saying it’s too near and we are left with no option but to walk our way to the office.
After walking for fifteen minutes we reached.
Whoever said that its near……………………….aaah!!

Mirror

They call it narcissism.Well it could be but whenever I look at myself in the mirror I fall in love with a face that in still innocent enough to do any harm to anyone. A childlike smile which is not a consequence of any external event. Twinkling eyes approving of the sheen, the face exudes.

I can look and be lost in it for as long as I want. For it has become one of the ways of mine to reassure myself that goodness still exists in this world. That no matter how wrong things seem to be, God is up there making things easy for you and right down here to support you.

Because when I look in the mirror I never feel as if I am looking at myself. Rather whom I see is an ordinary mortal with the divine within. It is this person who has inspired me along with all my well-wishers to believe in myself, to know that I have it in me and that I have proven it time and again and that this time too situation being different is still no different. This person is my guru, my faithful companion and my beloved.

“Do not give in to the ways of the world, howsoever wrong or unjust they may seem to you. Don’t let the weaknesses of the people around you transform you into someone whom you yourself may not be able to relate to later.

You are today what you are because you remained what you were over these years of your life. The journey is long, there is still a lot to be seen, sensed and experienced. There are still many paths to be crossed by strangers who you never know when may join you. So just go on……..”