Life, on a slow lane

I love driving. Especially on those long undulating roads. Not on the highways, mind you - they're discriminatory. Highways, by design, require the slower ones to be marginalised. 

Ask the ones on a slower lane to your left and they'll explain what it feels like, to see the faster ones whizz past you. And trust me, it hurts. I've been in that situation a couple of times - once on a car with a speed limiter and once when my car was damaged due to a collision on the highway. It is not easy to let go of your egos. Your urge to compete and dominate and show who's the boss. But when you are compelled to do so, not everybody is equipped to accept the reality and keep chugging along. 

It helps to have good music, 

a friend, or a loved one, 

who narrates stories

and keeps good company. 

The one who reminds you 

of memories, that accompany you. 

To egg you on, 

one milestone after another, 

through your journey. 

Making it worth all the while. 

And that is when you experience 

the true joy of driving. 

You have the time 

You see people 

their landscapes 

the stories that they tell. 

Stories of trials and tribulations. 

Of sorrows and miseries. 

Of joys and happiness. 

Of hardwork and perseverance.

Of dedication and endurance.

These are the stories of lives.

Stories untold.

Stories often ignored.

Life on a slow lane, gives you enough time to contemplate about your place on the earth. Life's totally opposite on the faster ones, though. They're good to give you a thrill for some time. And then you get bored. You're heading straight, in full throttle, just to reach your destination. Never realising what was around you all this while! 

In life, some of us are on the slow lanes and some of us are on the faster ones. But unlike on roads, you can never come back to relive the journeys once you whizz past them. What's gone, is gone for ever. There's no getting back. So choose your lanes wisely. Appreciate the ones on the slow lanes and do not marginalise them. We have to make our societies more like those country roads and not the highways. 

This reminds me of the movie - Cars (the first one's the best by a huge margin). Remember the old town that was so full of life only to be forgotten once the highways made their mark? People's livelihoods, their daily routines, their only source of happiness were all taken away from them in a jiffy! 

But who are these people? These are the ones who...

...Sell ear rings that make make people appreciate their beauty

Sell roasted peanuts for the passers by to satiate their hunger pangs

Or just give people those tiny little pleasures to indulge in.

These are the people 

who create joy. 

The ones on a slow lane,

The forgotten lot. 

Are we doing enough 

to take them along in our journeys? 

Perhaps not!

I was watching Frozen - 2, the other day and can't get the Silent Siren off my mind. Its a call to Elsa, the Princess, from Ahtohallan - the river god. And here's how it goes:

It's haunting.
It's inescapable.
It's mysterious.

It's a reminder,
to take us back,
to our roots.

And that's what the Corona Pandemic is.

It is a reminder to the human society to build country roads and not highways. To build sustainable livelihoods in villages and towns and not more bridges and flyovers in the overcrowded cities we live in. That's when we get everybody to live life to their fullest. There's just one lane - no questions about who's slower or who's faster. We save people from worrying about the frailties and insecurities and get them to appreciate all that is around.

And that, my friends, would be the new normal! :)