He punched his tickets and rushed to board the 9:12 AM train. Local trains in
Mumbai reminded Arun of the story where a glass full of stones still had space
for sand and that same glass could still absorb water. No guess as to how many
people could be jammed in a compartment would be an overestimate. Bank balance
and time balance dictated that he took the train to office. The early morning
sweat dripping off the forehead onto a neighbor’s freshly ironed shirt, the unintentional
shoves of survival and the abuses that concealed frustration were his
incentives to do better at the annual appraisal.
“One
day, I won’t have to take the train. I will take the taxi. God willing, I will
have my own car”, he thought. Every day. Almost.
On
other days, he thought, “I am new to the city. Who knows, maybe, I will get
used to this?”
“No
way!” he countered himself. Not much of an argument, though.
Arun
spent the first thirty minutes of his time in office everyday cursing the
traffic in Mumbai and his fate, discussing the former with his colleagues and
the latter to himself.
Three years had passed.
Arun
had learnt the tricks of the game. He no longer feared the crowd. He no longer
envied the Audis and BMWs stuck in the traffic jam in a parallel road. He did
not loathe the smell of the sweat. He did not find the shoves and pushes rude.
He found the abuses amusing. He had learnt to laugh at the jokes of his fellow
travelers. He started to find the occasional breeze refreshing. Now that he had
learnt which door the sun shone brightly at, he could find an appropriate spot that
struck a balance between the heat and the cold.
He
had made acquaintances. The ones who did not ask beyond where he worked. Not how
much he earned. Not his career plans. They did not ask the very questions he
was uncomfortable with. He often wondered, “How did they know?”
Then
he thought, “Maybe, they were all like him.”
Before
he got down, Arun waved them good-bye. He now spent his first thirty minutes in
office differently. He listened. And laughed over tea.
When
he got back to his cubicle, he sat down relaxed, watching the Windows machine
boot up. Those forty seconds. He knew the solution to a major puzzle he could
not crack three years back.
The
answer was Tolerance.
With
practice, he had mastered it. He was happier.
