That little leeway

Sometimes in life, there comes a point where going gets tough and we seem hemmed in by hurdles…Come on, let it be a plain talk without philosophical overtones! Forget life, but it’s a traffic situation on chaotic Indian roads and a little more often in Pune!! Traffic situations are so very precarious that ‘going gets tough’ could be an understatement. Traffic comes to a standstill. You are clueless whether the signals are functional or cops are manning traffic. In short, no relief in sight and no signs of reaching the destination…

It’s tough to stay composed during such moments. Each of us is most likely to have encountered traffic snarls. But they are not always negative. My experience is positive at times…

When the traffic is halted and there are no chances of it moving, there appears a small gap allowing your bike to pass through. The ‘small’ gap slowly but steadily takes you much farther than you could ever imagine and makes you cross the green signal! On noticing this, I started looking for gaps; of course it was possible only on the bike. With car, I was prepared beforehand, hence, no sweat. And it worked most of the times. If we can steadily manage to move slowly but gradually in traffic, we can do so in life…

Again philosophical overtone, but yes we can! As mentioned in the opening line, we often encounter situations where things come to a standstill. In more scientific terms, we can call it depression, anxiety or even boredom. Maybe, if we look for gaps, we can easily manage to move, slowly but steadily.

Of late, I wasn’t feeling enthusiastic whereas my professional commitments and futuristic plans demanded ‘enthusiasm’. It wasn’t so bad like a give-up feeling. It took time for me to understand that ‘something was wrong with me’ as I seemed perfect to everyone. I just happened to read Deepika Padukone’s account on how she battled depression. What appealed me was her candid confession that it was tough for her to accept the very fact that she suffered from depression as ‘it wasn’t expected from a successful actor’. The professional help may have helped her find that gap where things moved …

One of my friends had an interesting story to share. When she met me recently, she informed she was on a sabbatical, which helped her perform better in her profession. She was a yoga and lifestyle trainer and we had a belly laugh when she said that she was stressed up delivering lectures on stress management!! The sabbatical could have acted like a gap for her …

Returning to my boredom finally and I managed to beat it finally but still finding out where was that gap…to that stressed up friend, I jokingly said, “I have never lost anything in life” sharing a clichéd social networking status line, ‘I never lose. I either win or learn’.

Don’t know if it was the ‘gap’ or I was the winner. But one thing was ensured thereafter, I was never the loser…

-KanChan