Pleasant reminders

Today, being Ganesh Chathurthi, all of India is in full swing with streets displaying a wide range of clay Ganeshas. Of course, the package comes with a variety of sweets that seem too delicious for a wholesome meal.

As luck would have it, I had to report to office even when people around me were in the festive mood preparing themselves to enjoy the day. Reluctantly, I woke up and followed my routine despite my inner self not bothering to deny the sadness of not having a holiday. I boarded the office bus at sharp 7.45 am cursing the driver to show up punctually every single day (If he wanted he could come a little late by letting us sleep a little longer).

Choosing a window seat, I opened a copy of Reader’s digest and immersed myself in the world of light humor and bonus reads. In our office buses, usually a register is passed around in which we had to note down our names and sign the same. Apparently, it was followed to keep track of the passenger strength each day or so I thought.

Just when I was drawn deep inside the magazine, a felt a sharp thud of an object fall on my lap. With anger simmering inside, I noticed that the girl in my front seat had dropped it over me for signing it. The girl, who was now engrossed in the world of her headphones, didn’t see me noticing her with a callous expression. I decided to call her and teach her some manners.

For some reason, I held back. A few things started running into my mind.

1. I had to see her daily in the bus.
2. I didn’t want an argument to be a reminder when we saw each other.
3. True, she had dropped the register but it wasn’t as if I had a fracture or a wound.
4. May be it wasn’t such a big deal; she must have dropped it by mistake.

I resumed reading my magazine forgetting the entire episode but I learnt an important lesson. In most situations, we argue for things that don’t hold much water at all. If we sat back and thought about the anger and hurtful situations that come in our lives, most aren’t worth talking or discussing about. But we usually make a big fuss which in turn gives way for unpleasant encounters with people.

May be if we could hold back ourselves, we wouldn’t have so called “problems” that we complain about. Above all, we all need pleasant reminders when we meet people which is possible only if we smile and learn to let go.