The Journey not to be forgotten

If an accountant goes into a depression, he may do accounting errors which will be noted by the auditor. If an engineer goes into a depression, he may do mistakes which his assistants would point out. But what if a simple man who bears the responsibility of fifty persons at a time goes into a sudden depression ? Prem had a similar kind of encounter with a local bus driver.

It was a friday evening and Prem was catching this early bus to home so as to enjoy his weekend with his sister's kids who had come down for the Onam holidays.

It seemed the driver was in a more hurry than Prem. Prem had to curse his stars as the only seat that was unoccupied was the last seat. Prem held for his dear life as the driver kicked on the accelerator. Was the driver possessed by Aryton Sena, the formula one driver, thought Prem. The bus driver never cared for the potholes and just took the bus through them. Prem saw himself flying high and then landing safe back on the seat, on one such occasion. It reminded him of his childhood days when his mother used to slowly throw him up in the air and then catch him saying 'Caught You'.

But the conductor, who had crossed 50,got pissed off and shouted at the driver "Why can't you slow down a bit ?" The driver who was in mid twenties, answered back, but his tone seemed to be a sober one "You are telling me to slow down now. Where were you, when i was going steady with my relationship". Prem understood the matter very quickly enough and was freightened with the thought that the person on the wheels could be one who was in depression.

And his doubts got confirmed when the driver failed to take the diversion at the next stop and went just straight ahead. Now the conductor started cursing the driver "U madman, where the hell do you think you are going ? We are supposed to take the left turn." Getting down the bus, the conductor signaled the other vehicles to stop, while the bus went into reverse gear. All this while, the driver was telling to himself in a very melodramatic tone but audible to all passengers "Only if there was a reverse gear in life, I could have landed where I started and corrected my mistakes." Each passenger's face told the story, including Prem's. They were praying to the Gods they knew so that they can reach the home safe and sound

The driver seemed to have cooled down and the bus was proceeding towards the destination at a decent enough speed. All of a sudden, the driver applied his brake and Prem was just thrust forward. Not serious damage done to Prem. But something had triggered the driver's emotions again and he was weeping profoundly. The bus had come to a halt.The conductor lost his temper and started abusing the driver. But it had no effect on the driver. The driver resting his face on the steering wheel, went on crying like a small baby. The bus had a stephney, but not another driver. The drama continued for some more time bringing the traffic to a full halt. Shrieking sounds from vehicles behind was irritating enough.

An old lady went to the driver and talked to him and tried soothe him as if she was speaking to her own son, "Son.. Tell me Son... what happened ". The driver lifted his face and still weeping "This is the place, we used to meet frequently. Now she has left me forever and married someone else. I don't want to budge from this place. I want to die here itself."

One of the irritated passengers erupted "First drop us at our stops. Then you can come back and die here"

The old lady signaled the fellow passenger to be silent " I know, you are stranded in this journey of life and love. But you can't just stop because one passenger got down. Think of the other passengers who are with you in this journey of life and other passengers who may join you at the future stops. The journey of life must go on. Don't give up in the middle of the road."

Prem didn't knew whether the statement made any sense to the driver or not, but he was confident that this is what he had to apply in his life.

After sometime, the bus did start and Prem reached safely home.