Take it easy

You could miss that train, but would you want to miss out on life too?

March 12, 2014 05:35 pm | Updated May 19, 2016 08:08 am IST - chennai

Lesson learnt: Don't miss out on life. Photo: M. Karunakaran

Lesson learnt: Don't miss out on life. Photo: M. Karunakaran

I was standing in the long queue at the Perungudi MRTS station, waiting for my turn to get the ticket. I heard the loud honk of the train when it arrived and left the station. “I’ll have to wait another 10 minutes!” I thought. After getting the ticket, I noticed the light on the lift was on. In a station, where most of the facilities are defunct, I was surprised to see that it was working.

I entered the lift and noticed a huge mirror. I was alone and thought I’d play around. I was trying different hairstyles and failed to notice that the door had opened and closed behind me. It reached the ground floor and four people stood there expecting me to exit. But when I didn’t budge, one of them muttered, “These kids never grow up!” Obviously he thought that I was playing with the lift, and it just added to my embarrassment. I was a little upset and stood there silently. I was engrossed in my thoughts and walked out slowly when the lift reached the upper floor. A honk brought me back to the present. The next train had arrived. Before I realised it, the train had picked up pace and sped out of the station. Again, I had to wait another 10 minutes.

This chain of mishaps, one leading to another, made me realise the importance of taking things lightly and moving on. Had I not allowed my mind to take such a petty incident seriously, I would have caught the train. This incident taught me to see setbacks as a learning experience. Unlike a station where trains come every 10 minutes, many opportunities in life come only once and we can’t afford to miss out on that because of ridiculous reasons.

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