Road to happiness

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.