THE THREE MISTAKES OF MY DAY

The other day, in a span of one minute, three people committed three dangerous mistakes. I was boarding a B.E.S.T. bus that had barely stopped. The moment I lifted my leg to get in, the conductor rang the bell. Mistake # 1. I have been traveling by buses regularly since the past 2 years and can now convincingly say that conductors have made a habit out of this. The first step of the bus is almost a foot and a half high. So any attempt at getting into such a moving automobile can cause a serous injury to life and limb. But callousness is the mantra as there can be no other explanation for such behaviour.

Mistake # 2. Drivers of B.E.S.T. buses start and stop as per instructions rung in by the conductors. But that does not preclude them from using their own brains. A rear view mirror at the side of the bus gives them a good view of passengers boarding the bus. And on that fateful day, the sun was shining brightly and the birds were chirping. Visibility was 100%. Yet, the driver took off with just one foot of mine in the vehicle. Naturally I lost my balance but managed to get a hold of the railing at the side, holding on for dear life. As the bus went ahead, I was finally able to lodge the other foot too and then hoik myself clear into the bus. I survived to tell the tale.

Once I got inside, I decided to confront the conductor for his rash deed. I went upto him and asked him why he did what he had done, in a tone as courteous as I could muster. The conductor chose to ignore me completely. I repeated my question, in the same tone. Feigning inaudibility again, this time he looked away. His face turned a shade redder and I could see embarrassment in this eyes. And at that moment I knew I had him where I wanted him! All I had to do is continue with my gentle questioning and he, realizing he had done wrong, would be a reformed man for the rest of his employed life. I could have put in down in my weblog as my good deed for the day. But instead, I committed Mistake # 3, and in opinion, the most heinous of the trio. I lost my temper.

“I’m talking to you,” I hollered. “Why do you people do this every time. I could have broken my leg just because you were impatient enough to ring the bell before I got in,” I continued. Consequentially, his embarrassment made way for irritation and I got some tongue lashing back. A few seconds into the altercation and the point was all but lost. And as most fights end, I ended up threatening to bash him up. He was half my height, and half my waist length, I fancied my chances against him. But he took me on. “I dare you to lay a finger on me,” he glared. By now, 50 pairs of eyes were on me, anticipating my next move. This is what I did – I took a deep breath and walked away, licking my wounds. For I was in no mood to commit yet another mistake for the day. Not only would beating up a man in uniform prove to be sticky but more importantly, violence would have served no purpose. I had my chance of making a difference but I wasted it. But for sure, I’ll try to reason with another errant conductor some other day and one day I will succeed.

THE FIRST CUT IS THE TOUGHEST

The first article is always treacherous. You don’t know where to begin from. Or rather, you do know where to begin from, it’s just that you don’t know how to. The starting point is called a bang. But getting there is nearly impossible. There exist countless blogs where anyone with an access to the world wide web is pouring their views on anything and everything. You want to do the same, making you no different from all others. Which means that you too like most others will end up writing for yourself. In the initial stages, you will send out links to all your friends and contact on social networking sites. Call it courtesy, call it curiosity, they will click on your link, giving you that much needed opening you have been waiting for. The idle reader will even chip in with a comment. But what then?

Subsequent posts will be followed by more links being sent out and with each successive post, the eyeballs decrease in number. Until such day that the only people visiting (not reading) your post are you yourself and that odd googler who stumbled upon your post due to some key word match. What started out with aspirations of being voted the most popular blog is suddenly in dire need of readership.

So you think about a topic that would appeal to the highest number of readers. Movies? Too obsessive. Politics? Too superficial. Your personal life? Too boring. So how about a post on posts itself. I figure if I keep rambling on for long enough, I will have enough to justify a proper post. Defined as anything in excess of 140 characters.

As I look back at all that I have typed, I realize I have material enough for a proper post. So I guess I’ll stop now and put it up anyways. In the days to come, I’ll yak some more if I feel I have something of substance to say. Otherwise I’ll happily join the queue going down the annals of cyberspace as wannabe bloggers.