A day in my life..

A day in my life.. wondering and pondering if we value it enough !!!

I live not too far away from a railway track and spend a few hours every month waiting to let the trains pass. One thing that strikes me is the number of people hanging out of the door of a moving train. We have all seen those famous pictures of overcrowded trains in Rajastan or Bombay but this one is not like that. This train is fairly empty but people still chose to sit by the door and wave at people pooping by the side of the track J… I wonder what is going on in their minds, I wonder what makes them do something so reckless… so easily…  Well.. I will never know and frankly I don’t think I care enough to find out

And then I move on huffing and puffing that I wasted 15 mins of my life waiting for the stupid train to pass.. what I don’t realise is that I spent more energy cursing about something that I couldn’t have controlled rather than use the same 15 mins thinking of something positive. Anyway, I pass by cars with parents rushing to take their children to school. The dad is talking over the phone, honking and trying to get ahead and the child is jumping around on the front seat of the car. This is a common sight and I take no notice but if you think a little you realise how risky this is. We keep saying how much we love our children, how much India is more loving and giving than the western countries. But you will NEVER see a similar site anywhere in the west. Kids are never allowed to sit in the front site, let alone jump up and down in a moving car. They have to be in a car seats, strapped and safely secured even if they are going 2 blocks away …..but well .. we STILL love our kids more…

I reach office and even before I can start working I hear the fire alarm blarring. Somewhere in the corner of my mind I know I am supposed to run out but I pay no attention to it. I continue checking my emails coz THAT is more important than saving my life. If there is a real fire, I tell myself, I am sure I can figure out what needs to be done then..

Its raining as I return home and the electrical transformer near my house seems to be celebrating Diwali.. with sparks coming out of it from all ends and it finally gives up and goes up in flames. It takes us 4 hours to find an electrician who isnt drunk to come out and fix it while all through this time the kids in the neighbourhood are standing underneath the transformers and playing a game of “who will catch the sparks before it touches the ground”.

Anyho, the electrician climbs up the pole in his hawai chapal, worn out loose cloths and a screw driver as his weapon of choice. Lo and behold there is light and the man climbs down like he is taking a leisure walk in a park and goes home to his bottle..  And to think I worked on a team which terminated a lot of electricians in the UK for merely forgetting to wear a helmet !!!!!

This is a day in my life and there have been many days like this one… I then spend the next hour planning my future, worrying about how things might not fall into place, worrying that I am growing old or that I have lot of things unchecked on my checklist of life.. ….BUT think about it a little and it makes me wonder if I really value life as it is RIGHT NOW… NOT what it will be 5 years from today but RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT.. if I am cherishing what life is giving me right now .. If in my quest to secure my future am I sacrifising my present … DO WE VALUE LIFE ENOUGH OR ARE WE JUST LETTING IT SLIDE????