Two Bus Journeys

The first bus journey is where i decided to start this. A blog is no huge achievement, but I am seeing it as a mossy stepping stone to the elysian fields of achievement. Mossy because there is a huge chance I'll slip at this step.

The place is Trichy, a town in southern India. Its early May, and the sun is beating down with a vengeance. On a 1 hour bus journey to my college campus, I met a guy who wanted to be what he was probably from 3 years of age, a bus conductor. A person only had to be in the bus to experience the infectious happiness with which the guy carried out his work. It is the only mark of a guy who really loves what he does. It was probably the only thing that could have made an hour's foot-board ride interesting. Meeting a guy like that really puts your life into perspective, I am an Electrical Engineer who will be the first to admit that I am useless at it. At a time when the world runs to the american fuel of money, I guess it is time to introspect on the ways and means. That bus conductor is probably much happier than most professionals out there. To me that is just a sign of a nation crying out loud. India has never been a nation of money-makers, we just adapt very well to it because we are, by nature, great thinkers. We are the kind of people who write the Ramayana when the world is hunting for its next meal. We are the kind of people who invent Zero and predict the distances to the stars, who have thought so much about our life that we can write 4 vedas 18 upanishads, and a host of other philosophical material. Hence, it is natural that, at a time when thinking can get you money, we mint it.

The second journey is in the city i call home, Chennai, a place where you will find a philosopher in every house. Here, everyone has their view on life and it will probably be their favorite topic as well. A place where people decry corruption over the tea table while passing the bribe under it. The journey was to a movie theater from my house and when it was over, I was left contemplating ways to enter a 5 star hotel that stood near the bus stop and kill a few people. Thankfully, my friend arrived in time to stop my dangerous thoughts. We were supposed to meet at a stop near my house but the bus i got on didn't stop at his stop and he had too catch another bus. The real beauty is that the drivers decided to stop at alternate stops for the rest of the trip, meaning we couldn't meet till the destination station, where i had to pressure the driver to stop. My sincere thanks to the two insincere drivers for making me angry enough to write about it. They formed the perfect example of two men looking to cut corners at every instance possible. A trait of people who hate their job. Thinkers that we are, on applying our minds to the problem of skipping work, we have arrived at the optimal solution and you will find most Indians unwilling to lift an unnecessary limb nowadays. And we wonder that our ancients were able to build a temple whose shadow doesn't fall on the ground. That was the work of a set of craftsmen who loved their work, not slaves working because they had no choice. That is what we need to move towards if we are to realize the great Indian dream of being a superpower. A society where no job is done by people who need it for their meal, where every job is done by people who need it for their soul.

Harsha