Friday, June 20, 2008

The Transit Lounge



He was sitting alone in the Transit Lounge. Watching intently at the television screen. The images moved past his attention. He was a lone face in a midst of a thousand faces staring at the screen. His face was the normal face not any more identifiable, not any less recognisable. It was a perfectly true honest and completely normal human face. His features did not lie his feeling . His attributes did not reveal any secret. He was alone and had just enough ambition to be able to make him just what he was -- "Himself".
He turned around to his fellow passenger in the lounge to exchange some small talk. Petty talk - talk of no real significance. Maybe about the weather, or maybe about the headlines in the newspaper on the racks. The only significant truth enough to matter any one of those thousand faces that had turned to speak to their fellow passengers was the fact that they were all relatives of a temporal nature, friends for a moment. Only for the moment they remained in the transit lounge. The smiles were temporal, the handshakes were short lived, the jokes were trivial, the laughter was phony. But that did not matter to him. The only thing that mattered was that he had to carry on. Carry on away to his destination when his flight would be announced. Everything else was temporal. No matter how true or fake they were.
He had entered the transit lounge alone. The way he had entered this world alone. Completely alone. Loneliness was not a stranger to him, because that was his natural state as he entered the world from his mother's womb. He did not ask for it. Nobody had asked for his permission. But he was on the face of the earth wondering the purpose of his arrival. As if every transit lounge had a purpose. As if every wait was worth the patience.
When he met his friends at school he thought he belonged to them. He thought they belonged to him. But they belonged to him no more than his fellow passenger did. They left him alone when their flights were announced. Left him alone to battle the reality of this world. The truth of the Transit Lounge.
It mattered to him who won the game. It mattered to him what the girls thought of him. It mattered to him which government would rule again. It mattered to him who won the war. It mattered to him how they played the game. But he never belonged to anybody in the transit lounge. He never belonged to his friends,his parents, his work , his wife ,his country or his pride.He never belonged to anybody ,for everybody was just a fellow passenger in the Transit Lounge. Nothing mattered more than the petty talks about the weather that he shared with them. Nothing mattered more at all.
But soon the petty talk was over and his flight was announced. He had to leave. He had to stop his talk. No matter how much they mattered to him. No matter whom he loved or what he wore. No matter how successful he was or how much a failure. No matter what it all meant. He had to leave. Nobody could stop him anymore. His flight was announced. He has to leave alone........again.
Some fellow passengers cried that he had to leave. The others continue to watch the television screen. He had to leave the way he had arrived. ALONE. Even as he closed his eyes and joins the dust, a new face appears in the Transit Lounge.
The world is a simple Transit Lounge!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Its not true that all the people whom we meet are like the passengers in a transit lounge. There are people who will be willing to be with you even after their flights are announced and even after their flights have left!

It is upto you to recognise such people and understand what you mean to such people. Sometimes you misunderstand them also to be one of the passengers. They may try hard to prove otherwise, which you may never understand because of the notions that has been etched permanently in your brain.

Be happy that you are blessed to have such people in your life. Even if they die, I am sure that only their body will leave. Their mind and soul however will always remain with you, sitting along with you, sitting within you, watching the television in the transit lounge.

Hari said...

I feel we have to deviate from Transit (from Sit to Stand) passenger. We are not alone. Each stage we doing activity it will do well to some one. Derive pleasure by giving .Same way mother give birth to child and rearing and parents make then to good citizen. Friends will helps and give company and belong to you throughout life and after also. It is like a teacher, Guru will be respected for what he given to his joiners even in the old age. Give to world what you can .You feel esteem satisfaction .
(Gist of Ashtavakra Gita
XVIII.42. Some think that something exists and others that nothing does. Rare is the person who does not think either, and is thereby free from distraction.
Cote from vedanta
It is difficult to find happiness in oneself; but it is impossible to
find it anywhere else—Scopenhauer.
The world attracts us very much because of its ability to deliver to
us instant pleasures. We go after it, we get instant pleasure when we
come into contact with external objects. But these senses are
fleeting. They decay fast. The beginning is sweet, and it ends us up
in sorrow. It tastes like nectar in the beginning, and poison in the
end.
But real happiness lies in that which may taste like poison in the
beginning, but like nectar in the end. That will give us everlasting
happiness. Sorrow appears in a mask of joy, and joy appears in a mask
of sorrow. It's paradoxical, but true. It is the law of nature. Man
has been endowed with intellect, and he has to make use of it to
distinguish between the two. He has been given the power of intellect
only to distinguish. If happiness and sorrow are so apparent, then he
doesn't require intellect.)
SO BE HAPPY

Unknown said...

Its not true that all the people whom we meet are like the passengers in a transit lounge. There are people who will be with us even after their flights are announced and even after their flights have left!

It is upto him to recognise such people and understand what he means to such people. Sometimes he may misunderstand them also to be one of the passengers. They may try hard to prove otherwise, which he may never understand because of the notions that has been etched permanently in his brain.

He should be happy that he is blessed to have such people in his life. Even if they die, I am sure that only their bodies will leave. Their mind and soul however will always remain with him, sitting along with him, sitting within him, watching the television in the transit lounge.

Sam the hunter said...

The article made me puke... but the comments just made my day!!!