Yesterday, I left office late - around 7:30 pm. I reached the bus stand, and there I waited for the Bus...
And I waited... and waited... and waited...
I finally got to board a bus after 45 minutes of waiting...
And then I waited again - inside the bus - as it waded at snail's pace through the muck of Mumbai traffic.
It was during all this waiting that a transformation happened within me...
Usually I am a goody-two-shoes Samaritan who happily offers his seat to the aged or a lady or some weary fellow traveler. I prefer standing. It feels good to stand after an entire day of sedentary inaction.
But today, I was in no mood to stand and wait...
When I spotted a seat being vacated, I moved ahead to occupy it only to be beaten to it by another passenger who was quicker than I am.
I was very annoyed...
So, when another seat was getting vacated in front of me, I did not wait. I poked my foot ahead and blocked the neighbouring passenger who was about to alight on the seat. Then I shamelessly pushed ahead and leaned towards the vacant seat trying to proclaim it for myself.
The neighbouring fellow looked at me with annoyance, then said, "Haan bhai haan, tumhari hi seat hai - le lo..." (Ok mister, its all yours for the taking... go ahead...) and backed off.
I parked my backside over my trophy with smug satisfaction.
On another day and in another situation, I would have frowned upon such shamelessly selfish behaviour where a fellow human-being craves for so small a thing like a seat. But not today... Today I was high on blood-lust - or to be more precise - seat-lust.
I did not even offer my seat to a poor lady who had been standing besides me for nearly 5-10 minutes. Finally another man got up and offered the lady his seat. The lady declined it though and instead let an aged person have it...
After looking at all this, I was jolted out of my seat-lust... At that moment, I saw myself with my mind's eye:
There I was, clutching at my seat... looking at it with wide adoring eyes, and saying "My Precioussss..." - like the creature "Gollum" from the "Lord of the Rings"
Of course that lady got another seat soon.
And, of course I traveled all the way to my destination comfortably sitting on "my precious (seat)".
But why was I not really happy about it?
And I waited... and waited... and waited...
I finally got to board a bus after 45 minutes of waiting...
And then I waited again - inside the bus - as it waded at snail's pace through the muck of Mumbai traffic.
It was during all this waiting that a transformation happened within me...
Usually I am a goody-two-shoes Samaritan who happily offers his seat to the aged or a lady or some weary fellow traveler. I prefer standing. It feels good to stand after an entire day of sedentary inaction.
But today, I was in no mood to stand and wait...
When I spotted a seat being vacated, I moved ahead to occupy it only to be beaten to it by another passenger who was quicker than I am.
I was very annoyed...
So, when another seat was getting vacated in front of me, I did not wait. I poked my foot ahead and blocked the neighbouring passenger who was about to alight on the seat. Then I shamelessly pushed ahead and leaned towards the vacant seat trying to proclaim it for myself.
The neighbouring fellow looked at me with annoyance, then said, "Haan bhai haan, tumhari hi seat hai - le lo..." (Ok mister, its all yours for the taking... go ahead...) and backed off.
I parked my backside over my trophy with smug satisfaction.
On another day and in another situation, I would have frowned upon such shamelessly selfish behaviour where a fellow human-being craves for so small a thing like a seat. But not today... Today I was high on blood-lust - or to be more precise - seat-lust.
I did not even offer my seat to a poor lady who had been standing besides me for nearly 5-10 minutes. Finally another man got up and offered the lady his seat. The lady declined it though and instead let an aged person have it...
After looking at all this, I was jolted out of my seat-lust... At that moment, I saw myself with my mind's eye:
There I was, clutching at my seat... looking at it with wide adoring eyes, and saying "My Precioussss..." - like the creature "Gollum" from the "Lord of the Rings"
Of course that lady got another seat soon.
And, of course I traveled all the way to my destination comfortably sitting on "my precious (seat)".
But why was I not really happy about it?
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