THERE’S ALWAYS ANOTHER MOUNTAIN
It was 2:00 am in the morning when I first came across the email from Her campus Ashoka. Under ordinary circumstances, I wouldn’t have bothered opening it, or any email as a matter of fact. Being a responsible email-holic was never a forte of mine. However, after having received my Ashoka email ID a few days ago, I had been feeling rather experimental with it and checking my inbox had become a regular thing. Now, writing articles outside the area of sports wasn’t something I usually ventured into, but as I skimmed through the topics, there was one that caught my attention, one that had been a primal focus of my thoughts for a significant part of my student life.
Now I wasn’t born an intellectual person nor do I pride myself over being one. So naturally, there had to be a reason behind why I gave this particular idea such a great deal of thought. Being a resident of Bangalore for the past 8 years of my life, I had been subjected to the never-ending brutal repercussions of traffic. You know what I’m talking about if you’re a resident of Bangalore, or any other city of India too as a matter of fact. Having experienced this for most part of my life, I learnt at any early age that one usually never expected their vehicle to travel a large distance without being interrupted by traffic or cavernous potholes. Keeping low expectations was their coping mechanism. Once you successfully crossed the first jam or any other external disturbance, it wasn’t long before you met your old nemesis once again. Day after day, week after week, month after month, I would voyage such journeys, and during each of these journeys, my hate for these bumpy, staggered rides hiked up. However, as time passed by and as the number of voyages, I took increased, I noticed that my loathing for these drives slowly started to fade away. Now yes, I did get accustomed to these drives but that definitely wasn’t the reason as to why my hatred faded. I was sure of this as in no time, I actually grew to enjoy these gruesome drives. My curiousness to determine the reason behind this paradigm shift of behaviour often kept me riveted at night. But soon enough, with the help of a little self-introspection and some guilty guessing, I came up with the answer, and it wasn’t surprising anymore as to why I had such a significant change in my behaviour. It is man’s innate instinct to stray away from something or someone that causes displeasure. This is exactly what I did, but subconsciously. Instead of focusing on the rougher parts of the journey such as the ones with blaring honks, gaping puddles and stationary jams, I naturally started to focus on the better parts of the journey, the part of the drive that was smooth and uninterrupted. I no longer took these parts for granted. Though the distance was insignificant as compared to the harsh part of the journey, and the time gap between two consecutive rough patches of the road was trivial, the satisfaction I received and the feeling of ease I felt, completely wiped away the rational part of this equation. It was this very incident of my life, that shifted my attention towards the relationship of a journey and its end.
Now no, this is not an article aimed at pointing out the conditions of our roads and suggesting methods to improve our traffic system, nor is it an article meant to provide you insights on how to beat traffic stress. Just like these rough patches on the roads, one has to face obstacles throughout the course of their life. Each of these obstacles is succeeded by tougher and harsher ones. Constantly remaining fixated on battling these obstacles instils a feeling of desperation to get rid of them once and for all and creates negative outlook. Now we can choose to give all our attention and spend all our time on getting rid of these potholes all at once, or instead we can choose to enjoy the journey instead as at the end of the day, it is the journey that is the most important. This helps in creating a positive outlook towards the respective scenario and acquiring the most out of every hurdle. Quoting our favourite genius, philanthropic, billionaire and superhero, the late Tony Stark, “Part of the journey is the end.”, a phrase that shook its entire viewership by shedding light on the relevance of the relatively smaller and often scarier end with respect to the larger journey. However, by looking at it from a different perspective, we notice that it encompasses another salient lesson, that all said and done, the end is just one small part of the journey. Yes, the end is important but it also requires vast prerequisite preparation which is only acquired along the course of the journey. Taking this into account, during our time at Ashoka, the people we meet, the friends we make, the tasks we take up, the experiences we go through, moments which make us laugh and even moments which make us cry, these are what are going to contribute towards the cause of a greater end. So, to all my fellow Ashokans out there, to grasp the most out of your years spent here, enjoy the people who you spend your time with, enjoy your lectures (even the ones which put you to sleep), enjoy the terrible mess food ,enjoy the sleepless nights, enjoy the sporting events, enjoy the parties, enjoy the cultural events, enjoy the surprise quizzes, enjoy the music concerts, enjoy the smog( However, please wear masks) and enjoy the vibrant environment, just to name a few things. In simper words, enjoy the journey.
By Chinmay Menon, for the Trans Solidarity Fundraiser