A trip that made me wiser

I was back from Chicago on a rather busy Monday morning, after meeting my besties over the weekend. Thrusting my luggage into my small yet comfy room, I hurriedly hustled out of my home with my office bag. It was going to be a rather busy Monday for me with meetings lined up 10:00 am onwards. Breathlessly I sprinted towards my bus stop, that was located at 0.3 miles distance from my apartment. Every time my feet touched the ground, my boots sank deep into the bed of snow formed all over the pavement. It was taking me twice the usual time it took me to reach my stop, despite rushing over the snow clad path. Every second my eyes scanned the time flashing on the display of my cellphone.

Still 0.1 mile to go and I was almost breathless by now. Small clouds trailed out in the cold air whenever the hot air gushed out of my mouth. The place where I resided was about three hours drive from Chicago. It was just another county that did not have much to be boasted about, rather than humble universities and my client company  at which I was currently serving.

Soon the bus stop was within my line of sight and I slowed down the moment I saw my bus leaving the stop. I wished I was bit far ahead for the driver to spot me. An elderly man, in his 50s, drove the public transport with due sort of respect for every passenger. Whenever he caught sight of me, on the other side of the road; frantically waiting to cross the road to board the bus, he patiently halted for me till I hopped onto the bus. But not this time, bad luck! Yes, for I was far behind even to be sighted.

My cell phone showed it was '9.36 AM' and I was let down! Barely had managed to let myself an entry in the office by 10 am on the pretext of my Chicago trip, and here I was in confused state after missing the last bus! Impatiently I swiped my phone to search for the cab service app and managed to book a pick up. The  cab service map showed – driver is arriving in 4 mins. And here I waited, tapping my foot impatiently on the dry patch of snow that covered the weeds. 4 minutes passed and now the map showed cab is at 2 mins distance. My eyes scanned all over the place for the driver only to realize my blunder. I was here standing at the bus stop and my pick up address was given as my home, again 0.3 miles away. I quickly buzzed the driver and there was this man in a pure asian accent on the other end of the phone.

“Hello, Good Morning. Would you mind picking me up from the Hucks gas station which is right on the Allen – Willow Knolls Dr intersection?” I quipped eagerly. “Hello… ma’am.. am not able to get you.. yes am on the Allen road… What's Willow?.. Uh..no.. Am arriving in 5 mins.. pls hold on…”

And before I could clarify further he straightaway disconnected the call.

Again I dialed him back and repeated my lines rather hurriedly; worried lest he reached my residence only to find me stationed about 0.3 miles away and myself waiting hopelessly only to find him deserting me after registering “no show notice” against me and cab service billing me for that amount, plus being stranded on the pavement.

“Ma’am I just don’t understand why are you so worried.. I don’t get the place you are saying, its different from what has been registered for pick up” he bellowed.

I was almost at the end of my tether. “Yes sire, that’s what am explaining you. Am just standing at 0.3 miles from my home and this place is quite easy for you to locate me. You need not bother to travel inside the residential area scouring all the blocks. Instead I am standing right next to the Hucks gas station on the Allen road. Isn't it easy for you to pick me up rather here?”

“Oh yea.. got it. Ma’am am driving I cant talk now.. am coming there right away” he said before disconnecting the call. I was bit relaxed that I could drive across my point before he made it to my residence.  I waited for long and still there was no trace of him. Alarmed, I just tracked him on the cab service map and there he was going away from my vicinity. I called him back again and he said.. “Ma’am almost there. I reached the hucks gas station.” I asked him which gas station he reached exactly and he replied the one near university street. I tapped my forehead loud enough to be heard.

“Sir, can’t you track my position on GPS? Am sure you would be able to understand that’s not the gas station am standing at. Also I mentioned  the “Allen – Willow knolls driveway intersection which is at 0.3 miles from my pickup address I booked. With so much information I just hoped you would make it here”

“Ma’am … ma’am…. I am sorry to interrupt. You are confusing me … I cant get what you are saying…”

I was so damn frustrated by now. My clock showed '10:00 am' and here I was guiding an idiot. I cursed all my stars that day for having landed me in this turmoil. Cancelling the cab and re-booking was futile in such a county where I stayed; for a reason i.e. very sparse population. Its very likely to get the same driver back when you to try to re-book, from my own experience.

I inhaled and exhaled several times and then calmly informed him..

”Ok, reach the pickup address I had registered while booking. I will be there in 5 mins”

Lifting my boots out from the snow puddles, I slowly started on my way back my home . After waiting at the entrance of my apartment for a good deal of 5 mins the driver called me back.

“Ma’am am near the Hucks. Where are you?”

Clenching my teeth, I resisted and waited for a moment for the irritation to get over me before replying.

“Ah well, as I mentioned already, am at the registered address, lest you get confused. Please pick me from 3490….blah blah….”

“Ok ok..no problem.. reaching there”, he said.

And there he reached on the opposite side of road and honked at me. I was too frustrated within and resisted the urge to shoot back a cold stare.

I hopped inside the car behind the driver as I was hardly in any mood to sit next to the driver who caused me so much of distress for past 40 mins.

It was '10:20 am' as my cellphone screen dimmed in the reflection of the broad daylight.

The bald driver turned back to glance at me and shot a smile. I too smiled back politely as I had no interest to ruin my morning further. He seemed to be in his late 40s.

“Ma’am … I had no idea how far Hucks was located from your home.. I was confused and reached another Hucks gas station quite far from your home you know?”

“Yes, I know.. I was locating you on the app’s map. Were you not able to check my GPS location? That would have helped you better .” I replied cooly.

“Oh no.. am not used to GPS tracking ma’am.. I just have this Google navigator, that’s it.”  Sensing the driver is not so tech savvy I just kept from getting into  any further discussion.

In no time I began reciting my office address lest he took me for another ride..“Ok.. my destination is 510 nw…..”

“Yes yes.. I know the address…Will help you reach soon."
"Hope you are not too late for appointment or something..Oh you work there?” he further enquired.

I nodded in affirmation rather reluctantly.

“I too worked there you know for 20 years..” he continued.

Twenty years! Barely I had managed to complete my sixth year  and I was here looking up to a man who had twenty years of industrial experience.

“Twenty.. that’s a pretty impressive figure” I complimented.

“Yes..but I have taken up cab driving full time now…dropping people to their destination all day…”

God knows how many have lost their cool like this before, I imagined.

“Ma’am make yourself comfortable.. you can have water and chocolates kept near the door next to you. And what music do you prefer to hear for now?”

“Uh ..no.. this is a short trip and am not in mood for any music as such. But would not mind if you wanna play your favourite..”

He played some jazz in a medium volume and I hardly minded it.  I am a hard core fan of rock music, who love to play house mix, progressive rock, Electronica/Techno and metalica tracks. I was a good reason for head ache for my family and neighbourhood back in India. My presence at home on weekends was largely dreaded by our neighbourhood folks for creating nuisance throughout the day.

It actually gave me the most wicked pleasure to see others suffering ,owing to my loud deck. And why not? When I was quite a cry baby during my teens, cribbing about my neighbours playing chartbusters loud enough on deck right through my exam days, everyone doled out advices to me on how to focus on studies no matter what other sounds emerged around. And today somehow people don’t seem to like it when tables turned.

Now am not a vengeful person, but I want people to realise - what goes around, comes around. Sometimes I wondered whether they were the silent forces who prayed day and night to liberate themselves from my imposed track of rock, which made me win my H1 B lottery and land here straight at the USA.

If that’s the case, then wow! Sometimes you need more than a prayer, to land into any lucrative prospects… quite true isn't it?! Am imagining them enjoying the serenity around– absolutely free of my exploits. Ha Ha!

“You stay here in the neighbourhood?” He asked, stirring me out of my thoughts.

“Well.. um.. yea… from quite few months… before that I was in California until I got transferred here”..I recited with least interest.

“Oh.. was it H1B? or you pursued your masters here?”

“H1B”

“Oh nice.. so planning for 6 years?”

“Not sure”

“Your family is back in India?”

“Yes”

“Oh my god.. how did your parents even allow you stay so far from them? I cant imagine.. I may not allow my son to go stay away so far… family comes first…”he said thoughtfully.

“My parents are broad minded and they are fine as long as am happy”

“Oh yeah… reminds me of one of my neighbours.. He was an Indian too… His daughter married a foreigner. Since he was my best friend, I asked him how did he agree spot-on despite of not being so open minded about it. And he replied that he was worried lest his daughter eloped away if he disagreed. He would have lost his daughter in that case, which he never wanted to happen. So to retain her in his life, he compromised.”

“Well… indeed true…” I exclaimed.

“Ma’am you spoke so fast on call, I could not understand a word of what you said. But now I can hear you clearly. “

“Oh you could have asked me to slow down in that case.”

“Yeah.. I asked you to.. but maybe we did not get each others accent well”

"I usually rush when in anxiety... maybe..."

I just smiled and looked away on the streets.

I had this habit of speeding on calls, only to be reminded by others – hold on please….as I rushed through. My flow of thoughts gushed at such speed that my words rushed to catch up the velocity. 

As sometime passed, I asked him whether he resided in this county too.

“Yea.. since 1987.. you know. Was a kiddo back then. Then I graduated here and joined this company and was working for a long time. I was too career conscious and ignored my family thinking they will always be there.”

He paused for a long time and I imagined all sorts of possibilities that might have followed due to his negligence.

Clearing the air, he added..”One fine day when I was away from home on a business trip, my wife passed away due to some illness. I rushed back to my home only to find my life completely changed. I could not get over it. Not being able to focus, resigned from my job too. I wanted to join my wife soon after her death. But I could not.. am the only person to look after our five year old son. He is too young and my life just revolves around him. I live for him. To earn our bread I took to full time driving since I was always passionate about driving.”

I was sitting like a statue, shocked over his narration. I had no words to say to console his loss and my throat was parched. My  mind echoed out. - Don’t judge anyone.

Everyone has good or bad days in life and in our daily hustle bustle we fail to realise the other person might be trying to get over their bad days. We are so full of ourselves in our daily lives that we fail to recognise what situation the other person might be facing.

Life is indeed short and we all love to spend it with our loved ones. In this world of cut-throat competition, we all deeply dive in our endeavours of bettering ourselves in the corporate hub. But the realisation dawns upon too late that it was not worth all the lovely moments we missed spending with our dear ones.

As some famous author has quoted, sometimes do stop by the middle of your journey to enjoy the rain…!

"And if your boss asks you why you are late, please do not reply him in anxiety. Instead apologise to him calmly and he would let it go. These things don't matter much in life.", he advised, as he drove me over to the curb next to my office entrance.

I thanked him profusely and stepped out of the cab; much wiser.