MY METRO :)

My first ride In delhi metro was simply awesome!

It started like this. I wanted to meet my school friend who is in gurgaon. My home is somewhere in the center of delhi and it would have taken me easily 2 – 2 ½ hour to reach her. The traffic, heat, pollution- I kept postponing going to see her thinking of all this. Delhi is scorching right now and it really saps ones energy to just step out for a while. So reaching gurgaon was like reaching mars for me (rather mercury as that’s the hottest !!) Then my dad told me to take the metro and I was like – I don’t want to take a cab- Why would I want to take a TRAIN of all things!

But I had to make it because she is my best friend and she just had a baby and .. well I had to go. So I started at 10:30 in the morning and went to the Khan Market station. That’s totally just 3 minutes from my home. There were arrows pointing to HUDA City Center platform and I took a straight ticket to there. Cost was Rs.25 whereas a cab would have cost me Rs.500 one way! Though I had to change the train in one station and take another for my destination the ticket would be the same till I reach Gurgaon and step out of the station there. So I don’t have to go and purchase another ticket for the next train and run looking for the counter again. So far so good. They checked my bag – airport style and then down I went to catch my train. The station was so so clean that for a minute my brain refused to accept that this was indeed India ! There was an electronic board announcing the time left for the train to come. In two minutes the train slid into the platform and when I say slid I mean slid because there was absolutely no screeching sound or any of the chugs chugs you come to associate with trains. Pristine white the doors slid open (again noiselessly) and people stepped out while the ones who had to board waited by the side. I got in and ah ! blessed cool.  The temperature was awesome and I thanked my stars. The doors closed locking the coolness in and I sat into a silver seat. I could see the electronic board announcing the next station as well as a detail map as to which stations the train covers. As eating, drinking and smoking were a no no in these metros it was clean as a whistle and the first class compartments are all reserved for ladies. All round were different people – some with Ipods (western style) others murmuring over their mobiles and still others studying for exams. The train was so neat(I know I keep repeating this but I am still amazed !) that I saw one student doing her record work sitting down as she couldn’t get a seat ! And my mind went back to MY college days when I and my friend used to take the local DTC and never once reach the college without being pawed or hit upon by someone in the crowd. And what a put down to the whole day it is when you get into the bus and someone with bad breath decides that you would do for today and gropes with his sweaty hands to see which part of you he could reach. I am not trying to be gross here and every student who has ever taken the local DTC buses to anywhere will attest to my statement here. And here I saw how neatly and comfortably students could travel not having to worry about all this and felt a little pang of jealousy that we never got to enjoy this.

I changed trains in central secretariat (no problem at all as the announcement kept on coming and I knew exactly where I had to get down and exactly where to go for the next line). Made the journey in less than an hour and with all my hair in place. Coming out of the cool cool train was a wrench and I really looked forward to the journey back as well.

I have been in the metros in China and Canada and I will say honestly – if not better- Delhi metro stands on equal footing with them. And being mine as in being in MY country its all the more special to me. One of the proudest moments is as I write this because wherever you go – homeland IS the best.

What more to say METRO ROCKS !!!

EGO - No No !

This one is for you - Raja- My cousin brother who was taken away from us so suddenly that even two years later the ache hasn't dulled. You changed my life by going out of it - and I would always regret not spending time with you when I could have.

Like it is said that a small four letter word – “Love” can make someone’s life heaven the same way an even smaller word “ego” can break so many relations. We know this to be true. We realize it and even advice people about it. Yet when it comes to ourselves we cannot help the show of ego. We may not even realize that it IS ego but that’s what the devil is.

I lost a lot of people to this- three letter evil and never even had the heart to accept that it was ego that spurred me to act in the way I did. Because ego will always justify what you do as right, you will never have the slightest doubt that maybe just maybe somewhere you were to be blamed too.

A small altercation when I was in college had me not going to my uncle’s place for years to come. Even when I shifted to the same city as him I didn’t go. My ego- the one I had pampered and fed – told me I was right in doing this. And then one day, poof! My cousin died in a mountaineering accident. And I was filled with so much remorse and so much rage too. It was not fair. I loved them. My uncle. My cousin brother. Okay! So I had been a bit angry for some time. But I would have gone and I would have managed to put my ego aside someday. But for me that someday had been cruelly snatched away. Now I no longer could tell my brother that I had cared for him. I still cringe when I think how I had in a fit of anger and ego proclaimed that I would never attend his wedding. And now I would actually never.

One can say that was a turning point in my life. It’s not an easy task to simply kill off your ego and become a saint in one day. But I try every day. I don’t want to lose one more person, one more day with someone I like, love just because I have a small bone to pick with them. The right moment may never come you know.

I got back in touch with one who meant a lot to me and whom I gave up simply because of my ego. It felt good to do it. Really! That one mail – which I wrote where in I said sorry and I still care was responded to. No, I did NOT lose my dignity just because I said maybe some of the bitterness was my fault. No, I was not laughed at or ridiculed or remarked “I knew you would come crawling back” ever, like I had imagined in my mind. It just gave me my friend back. Someone who meant a lot, means a lot now, someone I always wanted back and because of EGO never did anything about.

And still, I have my moments when I struggle with my ego. When I have to stifle it down or at least pet it so it goes back to sleep. When I start to feel I am going to lose someone because of this little manufacturing defect of mine, I take notice and correct it. I do and I AM proud of it. And I am telling you now, I don’t even mind being ridiculed or I don’t care if someone says I came crawling back. Life is too short and people whom I love and care for – it’s completely in my hand to keep them in my life. Anything goes wrong in any relationship of mine I am going to definitely make sure it is NOT going to be because of MY ego. That’s a promise I took 2 years back – for you my brother- to whom I could never say how much I did care. So today I do tell my uncle that I am there for him. As a daughter. As a friend too.

So if you have someone in your life whom you have pushed away just because of your ego – and you will know it deep in your heart who that person or persons are- then go ahead and get in touch. It is so not worth it to let ego spoil anything for you. If you care for someone then NOW is the time to let them know. Life may not give you a second chance. So go for it now.