Paranormal Activity - In Rush Hour Traffic!

Frown, Surprise, Laughter, Emotion - Go Beyond All These... in Traffic!
Just How? Read on :)

Let your mind wander in simplicity, blend your spirit with the vastness, follow along with the things the way they are, and make no room for personal views-then the world will be governed - Zen Master Chuang Tsu.

Mind is the cause of all misery, I read my Guru saying. So, what to do, to transcend misery? "Transcend the Mind"... Pat came the answer from some inside me. "Oh! Man, you are sooooooo intelligent. But, prey, say how do I do that?" I asked, with a pinch of sarcasm. And then I understood why the great Guru Jesus said "Ask and ye shall receive...".

To transcend the mind, you need to anchor yourself in the present moment and start understanding the Mind. So, I set off to understand the mind... to get over the continuous discontent that is a common states in this rush age. 

While driving to office and back in the city's maddening traffic, I tried to root myself in the moment and observe the Mind... in order to understand it. 

1. Somebody cut past my bike, into my line of travel. REVENGE! 'Now you show him how it feels if somebody does that to him!' said the mind. And I said " Mind is Revengeful" and came back to the present, leaving that thought there. 

2. While waiting on the red signal, the Mind took me off on a trip. I observed to see where exactly. It was planning to write this blog and how to go about presenting this notion creatively.
And I said "Mind the Preacher!" and left it there to return to the present moment.  

3. I was on Khairatabad flyover. Traffic was stalled in a queue. I was between 2 big cars. Mine being a Bullet, a big bike, the gap between the cars was too narrow to pass. There was a biker who was honking behind me signalling me to move ahead, which I could not. I felt guilty for standing in a place causing the other person not to move ahead. I was desperately wanting the traffic to move ahead, so as to move me away from this situation. Then came back the awareness...
And I said "Mind feels guilty. Always a slave to 'what other people think' ". 

4. There is a lady on a bike ahead of me. I see her rapped up in her "Chunni", like some air-cargo packaging, riding a two wheeler. But her wavy brown hair emanates a fragrance while I zoom past her. Suddenly I remember my school days and a cute girl I flirted with, who had the same perfume about her. What a feeling I had in those days! We had it going for a while but we broke up amicably. Probably she would pretend nothing happened between us, if I happen to meet her one of these days. Perhaps she is married and all. May be she does not care to give any weight-age to me now, I am no playboy, right?... But how about this female on FB who is giving me signals, I wonder if she had the same perfume about her in person, never met her, really. And there! I caught you, I say to the Mind. Then, with ease I come back to driving my Bullet in the present moment.
And I say "Mind is always in the Past and keeps linking it to the Future... oscillating between Past and Future". 

5. I stop to hop into a tobacco outlet for a quick shopping. An old beggar woman accosts me, requesting money. While I give her a currency note, I look at her and think, this woman might have looked beautiful in her younger days.

Later, a hundred yards ahead, a young biker zooms past me with maddening speed on some 175CC bike, swirling and zigzagging annoyingly through traffic. I say 'these teenagers... no roots, no reverence and are just a clueless lot... India, today!'. 

I see a man in a car, with long hair. Wow! I think, how I wish I had grown that kind of hair!

I see a lady with an expression like the rogue dog took away her chicken burger. My God! I would felicitate her husband for enduring such an expression everyday!

Hey, why are you blinking the right indicator when you are not turning? Atrocious unconsciousness!

My my, car-man, what's it with you? Why are you so pushy, we others on the road belong to the same human race and we too, want to reach our destinations... we don't intend to park our vehicles here and sleep on the road!

Enough! I stop myself at this point to come back to the present moment...

And say to myself "Mind is continuously Judgemental !"

I keep understanding more and more about the mind. But I don't fight it. I keep acknowledging it and I keep coming back to the present moment. Understanding the Mind made my presence in the present, stronger. This is one sure way to, one day, transcend the Mind and thus, human misery.
Thanks to the maddening traffic, of-course :)

Ask and You Shall Receive... I received the answer.

PS: Vote of Thanks: I thank this web site's Spell Check Goddess without whom this article would have given the reader a 'scratching the black board with a nail' feeling" :)

Thanks for reading.

How To Get Enlightened in Rush Hour Traffic

I have learnt a lot from things that might be very irritating to many.

One of my favourites is my city's traffic. It is like the run of a frightened rabbit when the forest catches fire. Driving in Hyderabad in peak hours gives you a feeling that is akin to one's nerves being set on fire. You feel like running faster, you feel like cursing the existence and you feel like going home and drowning yourself in cold water.

But in spite of all these feelings, one day something happens. You are crossing a signal when it glows green... and suddenly one Alexander's reincarnation who is in a super rush, zooms across from the wrong side to give you a sensation as if your heart has just slipped out of your bosom and fell down on the road. You start to open you mouth to explain to the guy, what you actually think of him... but you don't, because he is already gone. You make a head movement from extreme left to the extreme right, three or four times. Then you resign to your fate.

But hold on, just then it happens! Suddenly a very private light flashes in your absolutely private head. A voice booms in full volume... "if you have to work, you have to commute... if you have to commute, you have to shut up and say YES (in caps) to this hell they now call traffic".

So it all begins... now you are absolutely relaxed. Watch traffic and amuse yourself with the variety of ways people can act crazy. When somebody does an incredibly stupid act that the history of city driving has ever seen, you simply bestow upon the person, your best sarcastic smile that you have practiced while brushing your teeth that morning.

Now, here are a few things I have learned:

1. Never trust anyone who gives a side indicator. He might have been a weak student in kindergarten who might have failed his which is Left & which Right test.

2. One's own honking is one's most pleasant music. He relishes in his honking harmony, so he keeps playing his honk tune all the way to office and home. If you don't have your earplugs and music on, it's your problem.

3. People are like babies. They are absolutely innocent and so they they don't necessarily have to know that you exist. For example, you are there on the road, and someone pulls into your line of drive making you swagger. But come on, look at him... that chweet innocent baby, how should he know you are there and you will feel bad, haan?

4. Rules of the road in Hyderabad are different. If you do something stupid, it is you who is supposed to shout on the person who took the thrust of your mysterious driving techniques.

5. And people are like cattle. Simply bovine by nature. Just look at them, they stop on a narrow flyover to attend a phone call, they have to SMS their opposite sex while at a signal - irrespective of the colour of the signal... they can, without any hesitation, spit anywhere or throw that empty chips bag anywhere or they can even MOO aloud, I mean converse with their friends on phone or in person, at the pitch of their voice about things we fellow commuters might not be actually, interested in.

To conclude, I would like to take off my imaginary hat (we don't wear hats in India any more after our ex-bosses left). Yeah, I would say "Hats off" to the Ceat Tyres commercial they keep showing on Television. It shows a super stupid guy crossing the road with balloons. He is in the middle of the road and a bike screeches to a halt... guess what? The balloon guy shouts at the biker... "can't you watch the road while you drive?" And then a voice over says "There is no dearth of Idiots on the roads..." so you need Ceat tyres or something. And Lo! The word "idiot" is imprinted permanently on your psyche. Whenever you see someone riding like Will Smith in I am Legend... like he is the only person left on planet Earth, you can happily shake your head and say "Wow! That one is an award winning Idiot!"...