All About Everything

Predicting the Unpredictable

You know that cheesy saying about life, its cracked and totally complicated. We often come across this strange dilemma called life everyday. Its more like nothing in life is not going to change except for change! There is absolutely no way we can ever confirm that life is going to stay absolutely merry and cherry as it is today; or doomed and desolate as it had been. You cannot, in any way fathom this absolutely anomalous nature of life. Just like Nature, life changes each moment; and of course it is this fickle nature of life that makes it a cliffhanging adventure.

Let me not mince words anymore. I came across an Incident this morning that made me realize (Like it always does before) how damn fragile and unforeseeable life is. Like everyday, I woke up exactly fifteen minutes before my alarm was supposed to ring, got out, took some fresh air, got ready picked my bicycle and headed straight to the gym. Like always, I winced at the morbid difficulty of my routine and adamantly finished it all off before my time. Went home, took a bath, got ready, bid my goodbye and boarded the bus for college.

Bus ride is essentially boring. You have to be creative in spending that one hour. People experiment, while I sleep.

However for some reason, I couldnt fall asleep today. Something kept me wondering, anticipated.

I decided to look out of the window and let the feeling pass. It always happens to me before something big is about to happen. Intuition? Psychic ability? I dont really know. It seems as if I can predict the event; however I dont know why, what or how.

And then it happened! A loud crash and a prolonged screech of rubber tires on the asphalt. I knew what to expect next. Surprised and terrified faces gazed out of the bus windows as it came to a complete stop. The bus driver got out to investigate. The thing was happening right before my eyes. I turned right, towards the window and saw one of the most heart- wrenching event took place.

There were two girls. One was little, probably eleven or twelve years old; while the other was probably in her mid teens. The older one was riding her scooter with the little girl on the back seat. They were riding to school and they were hit by a car.

Every thing was a total chaos. A large group of people had started to encircle the two terrified girls. The older one wasnt hurt much. She had a limp in her leg and blood on her mouth. The younger one, however; had a different story to tell.

The little one was under acute shock. She was totally unhurt but she was knocked out. She must have suffered from terrible trauma due to the intensity of the impact. Her older sister was now on her feet, while the little girl was still unconscious. The whole ordeal becomes heart wrenching from this point. The older girl was utterly shocked to see her sister in that state. Limp, lifeless; her eyes had distended with shock and disbelief painted all over her face. She shook the little girls shoulders in an attempt to rouse her but to no avail. I could see the suffering in the older girls eyes. I am an older sister myself. I know how much it hurts when the younger one even gets a scratch. I know how much it pains too see the little one in pain. As I saw the scene unfold before me, I said a silent prayer to myself, Dear God, If you love me, then please make this girl live.

Finally, the owner of the car that had hit the girls applied his presence of mind and escorted both of them to the hospital. The whole scene finished in about five minutes and the bystanders began to leave as the car zoomed off.

The bus driver returned and the engine came back to life. Soon, the bus zoomed off to the opposite direction and the event was mostly forgotten.

Well mostly, because I just couldnt bring myself to get over it. Sleep was largely gone; so was my peace of mind. Unusually poetic questions began to show up. What happened to the girl? life can be so unpredictable? Why do such situations cross our paths? All of these questions kept on pestering me for a reply; but I couldnt bring myself to think. Every time I thought of something, the distressed face of that older girl horrified by the limp, unconscious face of her little sister came back to torment me and churn my heart away.

Tearfully, I called mother and talked to her. She listened to me patiently and like the angel she is; put all my doubts and queries to rest. She explained to me that nothing in life is constant; except for change. She told me that the only thing predictable about life is its uncertainty. She explained it to me that life is just like nature; violent and fickle. It is us that have to mold ourselves according to both of them if we want to live.

She made me realize that whatever I have in life is a beautiful gift. Strong limbs, a healthy body, a loving family, education, good clothes a beautiful roof over my head two healthy, loving dogs and what not! Indeed, I am blessed in multiple ways. Indeed I have innumerable reasons to be happy about life no matter how fickle or capricious it is because I have so much to thank life and God for whatever I have today.

This experience definitely made me way stronger than I was before. We humans tend to live about a constant state of fear. We tend to run away from this fickle-mindedness of life and are in constant pursuit of escaping reality. To some point, I am also like that. That is why I was so moved by this incident. But what are we fearing? Life is meant to be this way! Fickle and totally violent. It is supposed to jolt us often so that we do not escape reality.

One big thing that moma dear taught me today that there is essentially no need to escape reality or run away from lifes unpredictability. Because, after all; when we truly attempt to conquer our fears, we learn. We grow into those superb individuals that we are supposed to become. It is when we start to predict the unpredictably of life, that we truly start to enjoy it. After all, life is a fun- filled experience and we dont have to be saints to enjoy that!

Om Shanti

Ayushi Mehrotra