Cabby's Lesson for the day...

These days, I enjoy my cab ride a little too much. The reason being the chauffeur enjoys his job too much. I don’t feel a bump, I don’t feel a discomfort and that is when I sit behind. I relax with the soothing music, my kind of music – soulful, good lyrics and above all, fabulous voice and different music every day. I look out of the window, let the breeze gush onto my face and just about be lost in the words that are in the background. And as the voices behind disappear, I begin to relax and my mind wanders for the day ahead. The cabby doesn’t hurry, doesn’t drive fast and I still reach on time – there is this sense of relaxed mood around him that makes me feel that I have all the time in the world for planning my day. I get in a right mood to the office and get started with the day, in the right frame of mind – relaxed, well planned and completely happy. It made me realize, how much our environment influences the moods one has in a given day. Despite the traffic, despite the honking, despite the pollution – all these are right in front of my eyes, yet I don’t feel the wrath of the effort or frustration. Composed, quiet and focused, he moves on. Isn’t it amazing?

I have had the experience of travelling in different cars with different people at the wheel, few who curse the roads, few who curse the fellow drivers, few who see an empty road and think they can accelerate like a grand prix. Little do they realize the effect of their driving on the fellow passengers. When I sit in these vehicles, I tend to get frustrated as much as they do. I tend to see the anger building in me too- at the other reckless drivers, at the government for the condition of the roads and sometimes, just the frustration of driver. I can probably never understand the intricacies of driving comfortably, but all I know is that, if the driver is not someone who is passionate about his driving, even the ten minutes that takes to reach the destination can lead to a very frustrating few hours of time.

Simple, yet live example of how the environment we live in, influences us. Of course, we can have a mantra something like, “I will be happy. Nothing can spoil my mood or the day ahead. I will be relaxed and calm. I will smile and move ahead..” blah blah.. whatever works! But, this never worked for me.