April, 2012 …
My days as a master’s student
were rapidly coming to an end. The last end-semester examination was knocking
at the door; the thesis was due in another two weeks or so; almost everyone, having an offer at hand – of either a job, or a PhD at a good grad school – was quite
rightfully ecstatic. I was – to the surprise of many, and, in hindsight, due
solely to my own ignorance, laziness, and lack of seriousness about the future –
an exception in the celebrating crowd. Eye problems denied me entry to the job
I got selected for, and I was still waiting for an absolutely no-alternative-existing
offer to a fully funded PhD program, with the chances getting slimmer and
slimmer every single day. To counsel myself that ‘this too shall pass’, one
evening I thought of the following through self-talk, and perhaps because it
sounded wise, posted it on Facebook:
“Sometimes there come times which make you stagger through darkness -
the entire world seems a big mess; not a single thing works in your favor; you
just don't know how long you still have to wait for the slightest ray of hope
to come your way! However, in the long run, nothing else can unveil the
mysteries of life better than these not-at-all-desired moments!”
Arpan, my cool yet caring
wing-mate who used to have crazy ideas hitting his mind all the time, banged
open my door within seconds to ask what went wrong with me. It was but natural
for him to worry, for my calm and composed exterior covered the stormy interior
quite well. It took quite a lot of time for me to get over that phase and come
back as a stronger, wiser person. I made it through a tough time!
*************************
Fast forwarding to January, 2015
…
I was returning to my current den,
College Station, from a trip to India. The first flight from Kolkata to Dubai
was five and a half hours long. About two hours into the flight, the passengers
were in a jovial mood, getting ready for dinner, when a strong gust suddenly hit
our reasonably massive Airbus A330. The initial tremble was scary, and that it
was so keen on troubling us for minutes with undiminished intensity was scarier.
We had already been asked to get back to our seats and fasten our seatbelts,
but our minds were too restless, and our once hungry stomachs just too anxious.
After a while came through the pilot’s voice:
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing a major turbulence. This was
not in the forecast when we took off. Typically, in such circumstances, we take
the aircraft to a higher altitude to avoid the storm. We are now flying at
28000 feet; we can climb to 38000 feet, but at this time there are other aircrafts
flying at different altitudes, so we have to stay at 28000 feet till we get the
clearance to climb. Please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened. Thank
you!”
How was the experience for the
passengers, and more importantly, for the pilot who was responsible for so many
lives? We finally were, at one point of time, out of danger, and landed safely;
the pilot made it through a tough time!
****************************
Everyone has to go through tough
times in life – times that arrive at our doorstep in complete silence, catching
us unprepared, unaware, in a state of shock, chaos and indecisiveness. They are
God’s means to teach us the hard way something very valuable and very sacred
that we need to learn so deeply as to retain in our heart for the rest of our
lives. Tough times test and strengthen our patience, our character, our
determination, and expand our perception of the world. They instill in us a ‘don’t
worry; don’t panic; I’ve seen this before’ attitude. We learn and re-learn and
re-learn the importance as well as the beauty of reasoning, communication, humility,
empathy, kindness and love.
