One Step Closer….
I have often wondered how great it would be if life remained
static.
A life where friends stayed friends, where parents never
grew old & where love lasted for a lifetime, I have found it annoying and
unfair how life changes every minute, the most dynamic process existent in the
world is probably life itself.
Does life ever wait, does time ever stand still?
Is there a pause button on the remote control of life?
Is there a pause button on the remote control of life?
It’s funny how we find answers to some of life’s most complicated questions in the simplest, most basic scenarios from our day to day routines.
I spent a good portion of my morning today at the Jalahalli
branch of the State bank of India, this is one of the busiest branches of the
bank in the whole city. They have close to a million registered accounts and
irrespective of what day of the month it is, or what time of the day you happen
to come here, it is perennially busy.
On most days the token allotted to you will be at least a
hundred numbers away from the one being attended to. Many of us in fact plan days
in advance before visiting the bank, on many occasions I have taken the token
in the morning and returned in the afternoon to find my turn yet to come.
I had gotten everything ready yesterday itself, the forms
were filled, the letters to the manager were written, the cheques were signed
and I was armed with my passbook and a pen waiting for the gates to be opened
at the branch early this morning.
Fifty people waited with me, some people tried to put their
hands through the gaps in the collapsible gates and windows in frail attempts
to reach the token dispensing machine first.
At 10:00 AM the gates were opened, I was right in the middle
of the crowd so I didn’t have to move, the people from behind pushed me in.
We stopped still in our shoes, the bank was being renovated.
The counters were gone, the token number display and the token dispensers were
switched off.
I couldn’t believe it, we now had to form queues and wait in
line for our turn.
I had plans, nothing great but something that would keep me
occupied for the entire morning.
But now, with the token system gone I had no other choice
but to wait in the queue that grew longer by the second.
The problem was that I had three different things to do at
the same bank; three different things meant three different officers three
different queues, hours and hours of waiting.
And guess what, after spending a good amount of time in one
‘Q’ I was told that I was at the wrong counter.
I sighed heavily and repeatedly looking at the good old worn out token dispensing machine and reminisced the days when I would push the red button on it, take the small piece of paper that came out warm and clean and go about my business.
Oh, how I missed those days.
The young couple waiting in front of me were arguing about the movie show they were about to miss because of the delay at the bank (apparently it was the man’s fault), and the elderly man behind me kept complaining about how important it was to have a line dedicated exclusively to senior citizens.
I yanked my phone out of pocket and plugged in my
headphones.
The song that rang out in my ears was ‘Bon Jovi’s-One step
closer’.
I have heard this song a thousand times in the past, and
just a couple of days ago I was thinking of deleting it from my playlist.In the song Jon talks about a lot
of bad experiences he has had in his life, but irrespective of what has already
happened to him in the past he finds himself one step closer to his destiny.
As the music played I looked again at the crowd around me,
the lyrics started making a lot of sense to me right then.
One step closer, everyone in the room was taking one step
closer, some were walking toward the counter, some towards the exit, but no
matter how insignificant the purpose of their movement, they were moving
forward.
I Broke off from my line and took a seat in the lounge.
Fine, everyone around was moving but I wanted to see what
happened if I stopped in my tracks and refused to go with the flow, I wanted to
know.
Nothing happened, people went about their business, money
exchanged hands, drafts were issued, cheques were cleared, the tea break made
way for the lunch break which made way for the second tea break and the time
drew nearer for the bank to close for the day.
That’s when I got it.
I realized right then that it didn’t matter whether I moved
ahead or not, the world didn’t stop, the clock didn’t stop ticking, and the
earth didn’t stop revolving around the sun.
Tomorrow the bank would open again, and it wouldn’t matter
if I came around , the work would go on as usual, it was up to me if I wished
to get the job done or not.
Everything and everyone was moving……… one step closer.
Closer to what? You may ask.
There’s only one answer to that, like it or not, with every
passing minute of every single hour and every single day we are moving closer
to our respective destinies.
Life is not going to wait for you, just like everything else
in the world it has an expiry date and it’s going to get there whether you are
ready or not.
Everything in life changes, and we may not necessarily love
these changes that happen from time to time, but I guess it’s always better to
step in and seize the day instead of just standing by and watching life pass
you by, because, trust me when I say this-life will pass you by, and as I
realized it today at the bank it doesn’t wait for anyone.
Until Next Time.
TGV
TGV
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