Good morning sir, a gentleman named Shankar greeted me this morning. He had been patiently waiting for me to take me to the office. It was 7:05 in the morning and as I boarded his cab, I noticed that he had maintained it well. I wanted to know his story. We all have stories to tell, but some of us just don’t find enough courage to open our hearts and let the strained nerves straighten, broken hearts, sewn by the needles and threads of interpretations, heal.

Coming back to Shankar, I asked him where he was from. This has always been my go to question because I like to know the roots that ground a person. He proudly proclaimed that he was from Hubli. He had this typical Kannada accent that was customary to people from that region and I was enjoying his speak, not just the dialect but his journey. As he traversed through his life, it became evident to me that he was my morning sun, shining brightly, guiding me through the maze surrounding me.

It’s quite amazing what a meaningful conversation does to you. It breaks open your mental blocks, opens you up for possibilities that are beyond your realm and allows you to look at life from a third person’s perspective. It has been ten months since I’ve been in pain; a pain that has all but consumed me. I’ve questioned the logic behind the pain, tried to dissect the origins of it, analyzed where it all went wrong but could not come to any conclusions until I found the answer in the origins of love that I felt for someone. The day I realized that I loved her more than I loved myself, the process of healing began. The encompassing feeling to belong to someone went away; the thought of holding on to her vanished in thin air. That she was in my life, in some form, in any form, was enough. She was enough; I was enough; for ourselves.

We live our lives assuming we need people to surround us, become our sunlight in our hour of need. It is true also, to some extent, that we need such people in our lives, who can hold our soul for a while with their inner radiance. But the truth is that such relationships are only temporary, where we feel better for a while within the realms of a cage. But a time comes when we feel the need to break free. That’s when we listen to the whispers of our heart, understand the origins of the pain and begin to heal ourselves on our own. This is how nature is; self healing and self sustaining thus giving us the very same ability to deal with the situations of our lives.

It was the evening of October 18th. It was my nephew’s 18th birthday and I wanted to reach home early so I could join in the celebrations. I called my usual cab driver and cancelled the evening pickup and got into an Uber. As the driver sped through a narrow lane, a two wheeler cut him off and almost collided with the cab. An altercation ensued and I intervened and requested the two wheeler rider to move on. Understanding my need to maintain peace, the cab driver apologised to the two wheeler rider even though he was not at fault. The rider on the two wheeler upon listening to the apology doubled on his abuses and hit the cab driver on the face. The cab driver did not react. This action of his ensued that the altercation ended but a rage developed within me. I asked the cab driver to stop the vehicle by the side so I could share a piece of my mind with the two wheeler rider. But the cab driver didn’t stop the vehicle and continued driving. As we drove past, I felt terrible. The man was in tears and I was responsible for his agony. Had I not interfered in the beginning and sought for peace, they would have fought and settled the matters in ways they know how. The rest of my journey was about making the cab driver comfortable and listening to his anguish. The story telling began and I listened to the roots that grounded him. He was from North Karnataka, sharing his dialect with the man who was my morning sun a few days ago. It was the week of Navratri and I was fasting for the first time this year. I broke my fast in his cab and shared my evening snack with him. He gave me water to drink and thus the process of healing began. As I alighted from his cab upon reaching home, I gave him five hundred rupees and told him to buy some sweets. He gave me his phone number and asked me to call him whenever there’s a need. I saved his number. His name was Madhu. A bond was formed.

Who we meet in life is not in our hands. What we do with them is definitely in our hands. As I traverse through this maze called life, I am now calm. I will lead my life with poise and grace. I will keep myself steady and feel alive in every moment from here on. I will live like there’s no tomorrow; just today; here and now; like sunshine.