positive gear is a luxury ride

Some afternoons linger over more afternoons long after they are gone.

It was one of those afternoons.

I had just completed a nice meeting and was heading for another.

Hopped into an auto rickshaw.

Eknathji smiled. And I smiled back.

Then he smiled again. And I smiled again too.

Sometimes even as strangers, the eyes and the smiles exchange their primitive human notes and hellos much more, better and before the words could intrude the beauty of the unsaid. And we turn waiter to these silently talkative moments.

And finally, the word had to come, and it did.

“Sakaratmak achha hai!!!” (positive is good), said Eknathji.

I still kept my word shut and let the nod do the talk.

I quickly realized that I have a fun ride in store.

We started driving in three parallel worlds from the same auto rickshaw.

This world, as we all know.

His memory-opinion world.

And my memory-opinion world.

And the discussion covered a lot of distance in space and time…life, childhood, education-its import-its importance, world, extremism, capitalism, etc.

Eknathji had been a chess player, a cyclist and a swimmer during his school days.
He had also been an avid reader of darshan shastra (Indian Philosophy & Psychology), and many national and regional epics.
He had been driving the auto rickshaw since the year 1994.

18 hours everyday.

Even Sundays.

And had met close to 300,000+ passengers till date.

As we drove, we entered a busy lane called “people need help”.

He added, “they need help,

urgent help,

almost all of them need it”.

Why?

To which he said,

“Because we seem to have lost on meanings and purpose of life.

Because ironically we are aping the need to be unique.

Because we are all wanting short-cuts.

Because relations are weakening…husband-wife, parent-children, friends, peers, neighbors, society-at-large.”

Mind you, this man is speaking upon his experience of reading + reflections + interactions with 300,000+ passengers.

And he said that he does not blame people, for they are lost and hence they are lost.

I believe that some things are deeper and eternal than what they appear, and hence profound. In other words what he meant was, “Where we are coming from is also defining where we are going”.

But he also believed that the change is coming soon.

As he mentioned about a lot of good people he has met along this 20+ years of ride. And I am in complete agreement with him.

When I asked him as to how does he try and do something in the direction of positivity, he said,

“Mere gaadi mein chhey gear hain (My vehicle has six gears). Neutral, first, second, third, fourth and reverse. Par mein positive gear mein gaadi chaalane ki koshish kartaa hoon (but I try to drive in positive gear)”.

In our interactions with 10,000+ people and 55,000+ Thank Yous till date, this was the first time I met the word “gear” in a positive sense. So I asked him, ‘What do you mean by positive gear?”

As if he was ready with his turn,

 “Suppose I put my auto rickshaw in the first gear.

Now first gear provides a direction…let’s say going straight ahead.

First gear provides a speed range.

First gear will encounter a particular traffic on basis of the lane.

First gear can get me only as far due to its speed.

So i get direction-speed-traffic-distance of the first gear”. “And similarly for neutral, second, third, fourth and reverse gear”.

I was more ears by now.

He drove further, “But all the gears can be driven in a positive manner or a negative manner”.

“Similarly in life, if I am driving in the negative gear,

I will manage to advance in negative direction, much like restless lane cutting & short-cuts,

drive at negative speed (self-interferences and deceleration), much like tail-gating other vehicles and hence constant jerks and stops,

hence be more negative and thus draw negative traffic (comments and energy from people around), much like drawing frowns or abuses for driving badly.”

“And by that simple logic,

As one drives the vehicle of life,

And if in positive gear,

One shall be more positive during the journey, much deep listener, respectful, thankful,

One shall co-operate with fellow drivers-commuters of life,

One shall be positive irrespective of the jammed-eased traffic condition of life,

and enjoy the luxury of the journey”.

He smiled again. And I smiled again too.

 Silence rushed in and filled up both of us and the entire space around.

We are fortunate that we shall be working closely together in times to come.

Indeed, we have entered into an era where there are 1000+ thinkers-researchers trying to explore the science of happiness, positivity, joy, well-being and peace.

And then there are these wonderful humans who are simply living the applied positive psychology…simple, persevering and inspiring.

And hence it is a luxury drive that can’t be bought with workshops, money, designations, and materials.

Indeed positive gear is a luxury drive.