A stranger once taught me something!

Once in a while there are incidents which keep coming back to you, mostly when you are alone. Either you were too stupid in that episode, or you were too smart, resulting in a smirk or ending in a smile!

One such incident happened to me while i was returning from my office more than an year ago! It was a long day and the next train to my place was around 45 minutes away. Unable to wait on the dark and mosquito ridden platform, i decided to board a train which goes close to my home so that i can catch an auto from there.

It was around 9:45 p.m. and apart from me another middle aged gentleman got down at the station. As we walked out , there was one solitary auto standing at the entrance. I was walking ahead of the gentleman and was thinking that i would have a long walk if i miss this auto.

Just when i was considering this, the other man broke into a sprint and caught the auto and sped away, leaving me feeling like a total loser! I was apprehensive that running for that auto might looka little uncivilised, just the way we contemplate a second helping of the dessert, at the place of an acquiantance we don't know too closely!

His sprint made me wonder, why was i bothering of what that stranger would think of me. I would never have met him again! He reminded me that it is ok to be a little self centred, as i have seen only those people being smug and in comfort while the altruists suffer in silence! Coming across such people who don't even flinch once in name of decency have forced me to reconsider my stance.

Just when i decided to get meaner and make the 'sprint' in the future, i come across those rare people who don't mind letting other people scramble and don't even complain about them. They don't mind sharing their pie, even to those who wouldn't share theirs with them!

Like always im again confused as to whose stance is right, so i keep meandering between the two paths, i sprint when i badly need it, i let go when i feel its ok to!

3 kinds of people

Past few months: I had been longing to blog for quite some time but kept away due to sheer laziness! Over the past few months I have travelled into the interiors of rural Mahbubnagar in Andhra Pradesh and lazed along the beaches of Goa and ‘Raved’ till 4 am , I drove along the highway from Bombay to Pune and finished the 2009 with a visit to Ganapati Phule a beautiful beach some 350 kilometers from Bombay.

Past few years: It was a happening year which happened pretty fast and as many (mostly older people) people around me keep saying that since mid 90’s time has been flying. I guess it’s due to the advent of recreational facilities in which the cable TV saw us gluing to the idiot box and with the onset of late 90’s the internet / mobile took us by storm. So there’s hardly any time to sit and stare... In the coming years when the entertainment revolution really reaches its zenith it will change the way we waste our perfect Sundays or vacations!

What I thought: All along these travels I had been wondering about many people I met … more so during my internship when I was wandering the rural areas in the bus mostly sitting alone … (the rattling makes it strainful to read anything over a long period of time) There was a myriad of people I met throughout mostly because of my constant shifting of cities and schools every 3 years!
I felt that we can identify most of people we met into 3 categories, mostly because most of things in life are in black, white or most popularly in grey. The middle category is always the heaviest! I wonder why I find it easy to categorize everything into 3 !!

3 kinds of people! The wild and maverick types mostly seemed to be highly individualistic in whatever they do … the other bunch seemed to be of nice wand warm people, but I mostly found that it is a tad tiresome to be with nice people! They are the ones who would stick with you through your thick and thin, but they aren’t exactly the lot you would like to hang out with when you want to have some fun! The wild ones are good to party with and have fun, but they do not prefer to be weighed down by strings attached!
I was always confused as to which group do I belong more. I felt that I’m the nice and boring type when I’m with the wild ones … and I feel that I’m the outrageous and adventurous types when I’m with the nice and docile types! Thus I mostly settled for the people in the middle … who tend to be nice and a tad adventurous at times as much as their traditional sensibilities would allow them.
Among these 3 kinds of people there are varying shades of narcissism. Predictably the wild ones are the sometimes the most self centered with the shades varying sometimes with predictable patterns and sometimes with more exceptions than rules! The line between self-centeredness and selfishness is too damn fine! I find the selfish variety to obnoxious to handle, and consciously stay away … but sometimes you can’t have all the choices in this world. You have to bear with the other people’s idiosyncrasies, just as they bear with yours!

With this I remember one line from The Departed which I watched again yesterday … The wedding ring shows people that at least one person can put up with this SOB apart from few other things!