Men of All Terrains!

“I am good at driving a car. I will drive for a while”.

Those were the words of my friend who accompanied me on a long road trip to a place of scenic beauty. We had started early in the morning from the place of residence and I was driving the car for the best part of the day. We had stopped for refreshments and rest before we resumed our journey and that was the time he spoke the above words.

I thought it was a welcome break and handed over the keys to him. He settled down in the driving seat, started the car and cruised along on the highway like an expert. I switched on the music system, closed my eyes and started enjoying the slow rhythmic songs of my favourite singer. I could sense that the car was flying at high speed with my friend seemingly impatient to reach the destination well before our schedule. He was overtaking almost all the vehicles and was apparently enjoying driving and commending himself over his driving skills.

“Why should they have these villages on the highway”?  I heard my friend muttering aloud. I opened my eyes and saw that we were passing through a small village which spread on either side of the road. It was getting closer to evening and the village was abuzz with activity. Children were playing on the roadside, farmers and cattle returning from the fields, women heading towards their homes with a bundle of firewood carefully perched on their heads, elders sitting in front of their homes and enjoying a smoke. I was trying to digest the entire scene in its totality, when my friend applied sudden brakes and I plunged forward. I looked enquiringly at my friend and found him frustratingly looking at a stream of cattle crossing the road.

“Negotiate your way through”, I told my friend, since that is what I do. “Negotiate. Impossible, I am not made for that” my exasperated friend said and threw up his hands. I encouraged him to go ahead, but to no avail. I was sure that if he continues to drive any further, he will either hit one of the cattle or aground our car into the thick mud lying on the side of the road.

“Let me handle it”, saying so, I got down and we exchanged our seats. Village after village went by without any problems. Through the corner of my eyes I could see my friend looking intently at me, paying attention to the nimble coordination of my mind and body and the ease of driving through highways as well as narrow lanes.  After a while, I could see that he was mentally picturising himself in the driver’s seat and do exactly what I was doing.

“Why couldn’t I drive like you”?  my friend asked me. I turned my eyes towards him for a while, smiled and said “It is not your problem alone. It is a universal and governs the way we treat; highways and narrow lanes; steep climb and downward slopes; challenges and easy wins; tough situations and cake walks”. “Tell me more” my friend asked.

“Some of us think that life is like driving on the highway. They have a feeling that life is all about having the best of the situations, things, and people and when presented with challenges do not know how to handle. The picture deeply embedded in their minds about they being good drivers gets blurred when they have to negotiate their way through difficulties making them unable to find a way”

“So, what is the answer”? my friend asked curiously.

“The picture you had about you being an excellent driver has to be shed. You were judging your driving skills based upon highway driving and not through unruly traffic. Similarly, in life all of us can do well when everything is going smoothly and the conditions are perfect. It is only when the tide turns against us that our skills of handling our lives come to the fore. The cattle on the way are like hurdles in our lives. It is up to us to decide whether we would like to negotiate through them, stop our journey or crash in to them. It all depends upon how confident you are in facing new situations and handling them with expertise”.

“Men of all Terrains” my friend muttered loudly and started concentrating on the road.