Date: 16th June 2023, Friday
It was 8.30 am today in the morning. A very simple routine
yet a casual day where I was leaving for work in my super comfy denim and t
shirt and as I head to my office, thinking about the last few days which were
no less than a marathon with the sole agenda to pass each day finishing all the
pending chores and tick off my to-do lists where I ended up seeing myself
juggling between work, travel and socialising and now my only desire was to look
forward to the much awaited Friday evening that I have been intently waiting
for. I could only think about how I would be buckling up on all my lost sleep
hours over the weekend that I have missed in the entire last one and half
month. Little did I know that my dreamy weekend thoughts would be interrupted
by the below scene.
Well, as I was driving listening to my daily prayers on my car's
stereo, I catch a sight of a beautiful White Maserati joining me from one of
the adjacent lanes and proceeding at a reasonable speed. For few minutes we
drove parallel to each other. Suddenly the white beauty accelerated and zoooom
…it was way ahead of me. I could still spot the car from my naked eyes, but on
the other hand my mind was surprisingly diverted from listening to my soulful
prayers to the uproar of Maserati’s acceleration. In no time, I got all the
more distracted due to the only notion of being “left behind”. My brain instructed
my legs to accelerate my cute compact Indian Ferrari i.e. Maruti Suzuki to
speed up and I propelled between 60-70 km /hr that moment on not so very wide
roads. I literally saw myself rustling like those children playing the racing
car video games in those time zone areas. Thanks to the deserted roads in the wee
hours. Although I was aware of the fact to drive safely and be cautious, but
the urge to match the speed didn’t fade at all. And as I headed forward, the
red traffic control signal alarmed my brainbox to slow down, use the breaks,
pause for a while, calm down and take a deep breath. What did I notice? The
exclusive massive white engine was right in front of my wheels waiting at the
same signal. It didn’t reach any further. And as I fixed my gaze on this
fabulous super huge two-door coupé, tinted in pearl white with an elegant
Maserati logo on its butt, I could not stop myself from visualizing how much
the owner of the car had spent to possess this beautiful machine. The signal
turned green and as all the cars advanced aiming to reach their final
destination, I too headed for my expedition to work, but something mysterious pinched
my heart and a thought provoked inside my head. It was unexplainable. So I
decided to pen it down.
The above short scene from today morning, helped me broaden
my life perspective. I not only learnt a beautiful lesson today but it also opened
my eyes, heart and mind out. “Life is a journey”– is a cliché we are living
with. I feel no matter at what stage you are in your life, everyone has only
one final destination to reach – GOD. Some reach pretty early, some reach quite
late. No matter whether you own a Suzuki or a Maserati, whether you live life
lavishly or live a mediocre life, whether you have an I phone or a simple basic
phone, whether you wear brands or you don’t, whether you spend lavishly on food
or eat a simple 3 course meal, whether you own a huge house, or you live in a
small beautiful yet cosy space, each one of us have to leave behind these
pleasures of life one day. We live in the age of envy. Career envy, kitchen
envy, children envy, food envy, holiday envy. You name it, there’s an envy for
everything. It is absolutely true that human beings have always felt a pain at
the sight of another’s good fortune.
When I reflect on the episode that I encountered today
morning, I too felt a pinch of jealousy inside me because I compared the speed
of my car to the one which was unimaginably incomparable. But as I noticed that
later we both were waiting at the same point, it opened my eyes and made me
realise that comparison and jealousy are both thieves of our own joy. Rather
than enjoying my own journey, competing and equalling up the speed became more
important for me that moment. It made me realise that the destination of this
journey called life is the same for all. How we reach the destination makes all
the difference. Like each human being or any non-living thing is unique and
incomparable in its own way, so is our life, sometimes you are ahead sometimes
you are behind.
Once we realise, what we have does not define us, we would
never get jealous of what others have. Nothing is going to matter, because in
the end we are all going to leave everything behind and peacefully reach our
destination totally empty handed. We humans are only pilgrims passing through
on our way to be with the almighty because our citizenship is in heaven. Our
lives are our journeys, yet our final destination is only to GOD.
And as I head to my much anticipated weekend, here’s a quick
lesson I learnt which in turn gives me immense strength to share with everyone:
- “Sometimes all we need is a strong mental power to live our life joyfully
through all the googlies that come our
way, because mind it, there will be many such!”
P.N: Attached is the
picture of the White Elephant that I clicked while waiting at the signal!!
Happy Weekend and Happy Reading.
Lots of Love,
Khyati
