By Oliver Lyngdoh
So I had to go somewhere to meet someone and it was an urgent meeting. I took a shared taxi from. And to my luck there was a huge rush of cars both local and private and as is the usual experience I got stuck in traffic! Now I won’t bore you with my thoughts of why there is so much traffic in Shillong and our country as a whole; that has been said a million times by countless others. The reasons are varied- from having too many cars plying around in already congested roads, illegal parking places, street hawkers hogging up the roads to set up their make-shift stalls, reckless overtaking by “Daredevils” showing off their swanky two-wheelers. And of course there’s that popular saying -“A family of 5 with 6 cars,” meaning that people now spend lavishly on cars, never mind the cost of the car itself or fuel to run it. But let me not go down that road.
Coming back to today, yes! I was running late! Yes! It was urgent! Yes! I should have come out earlier and Yes! I felt like cursing. As this huge wave of torrid emotions ran through me, I noticed a village boy aged about 17 years sitting beside me. He caught my attention because he seemed so carefree that I was actually envious of him.
At this time a small boy of about 10 years knocked on my car window. This boy like so many other delinquents was trying to sell me bookmarks. Of course these little boys peddle the usual dialogue- “Bah(Sir), Please help me with one or two of bookmarks; I haven’t eaten anything today and I’m starving; and to top it off I haven’t made a sale yet. Please have some humanity and help me”. I took out a twenty rupee note and handed it to him telling him to go eat, knowing fully well that the kid would either spend the money on cigarettes, some “kwai” or even a drink, but then I can’t help it. I needed to assuage my conscience.
And so the traffic was moving slowly. Since I am restless by nature I started to find ways to amuse myself. I took out my phone to surf the internet but there was no network. I asked the driver if he could switch on the radio and tune to Red FM. The driver with a smile as wide as his face said in his rustic accent that there was no radio attached to his car. After this failed attempt at recreation I started scanning my fellow travelers. Next to me was the village lad, next to him was a businessman or lawyer all suited and booted. In front was a lady in traditional attire. While I was looking around the cab, the lad next to me started to whistle. I was taken aback at this and so too the other passengers. The driver who now was just lazing around looked at the kid and asked him what song he is listening to so intently and which he seemed to enjoy so much (I should have added that the boy had earphones on the whole time).
The boy replied that it wasn’t the song that made him happy but what the song held for him. As he said so, he took off his earphones and started to play the song at full volume to my pleasure and a silent grumble from the businessman. The lady in front who had paid no attention to any of this and had continuously stared out her window looked at the kid with more interest. The driver, too, now interested in what the kid was saying asked him to play the song from the beginning. Now I forgot what the song was, and yes I didn’t get the artist as well. But nonetheless the kid played the song again and began humming the tune until the driver asked him why the song made him happy.
The boy smiled. He said that it was this song that won the heart of his girlfriend. He confessed that he had been dating this girl since his school days and now that they were both in higher secondary school he had gathered courage to propose to her. The girl was apparently so smitten by this act that she broke down in tears and cried “Yes! I will be yours…” All of us in the taxi laughed at this; even the grumpy businessman did.
I mused at what the boy said and how he felt at that particular moment in time. He was happy, in love, carefree and oblivious of the worries of the world. I heard myself asking, “Where did those days of youth and joyfulness of mine disappear? ”
I guess everyone feels the same. We are so caught up in our day to day lives that we forget to just take a moment to relax. I realized that I myself am so caught up with my work, odd jobs and errands that I don’t take time for myself or for my family and friends. I’m living in the fast lane, chasing after dreams and aims. It feels like I don’t care about anything anymore except that I must achieve my goals and objectives.
And this is not just me, it is happening to everyone around me. My friends have no time for anything, my family members are busy chasing their own dreams too. I look at my little brother, he hardly has time to relax and play the way I did during my childhood. He comes home, eats, bathes and does his homework after which he starts studying. His life seems like an endless cycle of mundane things that sometimes have no relevance to any of us.
Why do we study? Why do we work? Why do we keep trying to make ends meet? Why try so hard at what we do when we can’t even take a moment to enjoy our successes if any, or mourn our losses. One project leads to another and then another. Sometimes we are so money minded that even virtues and morals are neglected. Sundays are sometimes turned into working days, not necessarily in the office but at the home front.
Parents’ don’t have time for their children. They shunt them away with maids and helpers, only recognizing them during functions and occasions or when the child has been naughty. The child is naughty because of want of attention but that’s the case for another discussion. We live in an era that feels like a week is not enough, 24 hours is too less, 365 days pass by so swiftly. A new year comes with new worries! This is the hectic life we lead. We have no time to enjoy Sunsets, no energy to wake up and enjoy Sunrises, we have no time for fun or leisure or love. Leisure nowadays is substituted by drinking parties with high profile individuals which ends in business deals.
No more hiking, no more walks, no more would you see children flying kites or playing marbles. All you can see nowadays are children with their heads down and backs bent, foreheads filled with worry. Is this what we are giving our future generation? A future of mundane tasks, working to achieve some designated goal only to be replaced by another? Are we striving to our own death?
I pity myself and my siblings and the future generation as a whole. We are brought up to a future that seems bleak. Unfortunately I can’t see a solution to this, except if we change our train of thought and set our priorities right and give more time to the things that actually matter in life- Love, Respect, Fun- the small things in life that come for free that we fail to realize. Why not give a chance to our parents to sit and talk to us? Why not do something for our loved ones than just chasing rainbows? Why not learn to whistle? Why not relive that first moment we fell in love? Why not take time and revisit friends, our kith and kin? Why not just take some time out?
I have been living life in the fast lane, but on seeing the joyful face of that lad in the taxi, his carefree attitude oblivious of the world around him, made me think that maybe we still have hope for the future. And hearing that boy whistle the song again made my worries disappear… Suddenly the meeting didn’t seem that important; suddenly I felt light. I was enveloped by a sense of joy. I felt happy again. I felt I could just get out of that taxi, run towards someone and sing and dance just like in the movies… Shout ‘I Love you,’ to anyone from atop a mountain. But since I’m a shy person I did something different. I still felt elated and happy, felt no sorrow or worry but I had to restrain myself.
So, I got off the cab, paid the driver and whistled away feeling happy. I walked back home just to enjoy a carefree day with my brother.
And to think this happened, “All Because Of Traffic”.