COMING TO A HALT

As I write this conclusion few days are left for the journey to come to a halt. Thereafter all passengers on board will be disbanding for another journey to reach their intended destination. It is said that “A friendship born during a journey dies at the station you leave the train” I will have to wait and watch to experience the effectiveness of these words. I do agree that the interaction in future, among the passengers will lessen as compared to the interactions while on board. Distances have their own role to play. Distances dilute relations but memories keep them hooked on. Till now enough stories have been told, let me finish the journey with a last story.

Work brought us together and we became colleagues, he was a colleague who in no way had anything in common to be shared except work on some instances. Any other colleague would think twice before having close friendship with him. Any addiction you name it, he had it. He came to know that I had enrolled myself for the French course  and shift duty would interrupt it. Once he came to me and said “In case you need a shift change, please do not hesitate to ask for it.” At instances I would go to other colleagues asking for a shift change but they would regret under one pretext or the other. Having tried most of them finally I would go to him. He would without any delay agree to give a shift change. He had been constantly supporting me throughout, from Level-1, to the completion of  my Diploma. The understanding and the support were so trustful and so focused that he would turn up on duty even with a short notice of two hours.

Hidden behind the mask of an addict, he was man so different, at times the hidden personality of a man remains unexplored. We are gripped by the fever of being fast. Fast food, fast cars, fast trains, fast planes, fast learning, fast earning and finally fast living. We are more focused on reaching the destination fast rather than enjoying the journey.

Once when the plant was smooth; we sat together sipping tea. I asked him, why are you different from the others? He replied “I know the habits I have, I need to renounce them, but I got them in my teens, it has been decades in a row and now it would be difficult for me to live without them”.

I appreciate one thing. He knew his limit, as well as he knew my limits too. He never invited me to the parties he attended. An addict on one hand was an admirer of education on the other. He was a father of three daughters one Doctor and the other two Post Graduates. Being with him for a certain phase of life has revealed me some hidden aspects of evaluating a person. Such phase teaches one a lot. Every person has some short comings and some plus points. What matters is “On what are we focused? Short comings or plus points” 

My Toastmastering journey was a journey about reaching out and touching hearts. It was a journey about building bridges. It was a journey about connecting with people. As the journey moves towards completion I have nothing much to do; sitting with hand crossed, as my eyes fall on the wrist watch the click of the clock seems sluggish, the movements of the hands seems fatigued and clatter in the mind fading. Towards the end of the journey let me express my sincere and heart-felt thanks to all those who supported me and about whom I haven't written or mentioned. The smooth, safe and timely completion of this journey wouldn't have been so in the absence of the guard, the driver and my Crisis Manager DTM Safare Mohammed.