“Sir,
this is a very old piece. It must have reached end of life”, the technician
said.
“I
do not have the tools to open the box and check what’s wrong. I will bring them
tomorrow and will get it checked. We can then decide whether to replace it with
a much advanced digital model or not”, he continued.
“End of life”; these words started
resonating in my mind. Has it really been that long since I was born? I was manufactured 15 years back and I have
worked religiously ever since. And now, they are talking about replacing me. I
am not really feeling bad about the fact that tomorrow could possibly be my
last working day. In fact, I am relieved that my futile ordeal is finally going
to come to an end.
***
I am
a Traffic light, mounted on a pole. My life is all about monotonous iterations
of red, orange and green.
Do I like my job? Yes and No. Yes, because my job is to keep people
safe on roads and it makes me feel important. No, because people seldom obey me.
Am I
happy for being posted at a scarcely populated place like Gandhi Nagar? Yes and No. Yes, because there is
hardly any traffic here implying that I have less work to do. No, because there is hardly any traffic
here implying that people think they do not need me and hence they conveniently
choose to ignore my existence.
I
stand here day and night; across seasons, bearing the chills of winters, sweating
through the scorching sun of the summers and getting wet in the pouring rain.
***
The
next day started with a strangely positive thought, ‘Today is possibly my last working day’
I
shone green, signalling the vehicles to move ahead. Then I turned red. The
counter in the timer started ticking down from 2:00 minutes. 2 minutes of red
for a place like Gandhinagar is a long wait considering the fact that the
traffic is bleak here. My Red-time, as I call it, can easily be reduced by
half. I hope the new “digital machine” has lesser Red-time.
No
sooner did I turn Red than I heard a screeching sound which is usually produced
by the application of sudden brakes. I looked at the road and was astonished to
see a girl, who was on a 2 wheeler, waiting for the signal to turn green.
I looked
around. The junction was deserted. By typical human standards, she had no
reason to stop and obey my futile orders; but she did. As far as my memory
could stretch, this was the first time someone had stopped on red even when
there was no vehicle moving across the road.
I
looked at her in awe as her feet struggled to touch the ground. The five-foot-five
girl, who had a helmet on, was dressed in a white tee and blue denim. She looked
like girl who was in her early 20’s.
She removed
her helmet, thus making her face visible to me. She had big expressive eyes,
and a fair complexion. Her clear skin, which seemed to be immune to the
pollution, was shining against the sun light. It seemed as if the sun shine was
competing against the radiance of her bright face.
I
realized that some other commuters, having noticed the girl; halted their
vehicles and started waiting along with her for me to go green. She was
instigating a change in people which I never expected of them. It was the first
time I noticed so many people waiting at the junction for me. I felt important.
People finally started noticing me. I didn’t want this to end. The day I
finally found hope, cannot be my last day. Thanks to the girl; now I wanted to
live.
In
the last couple of seconds, it dawned on me that I might not be fortunate
enough to see the girl again. I wanted the time to freeze. For the first time
in my life I felt that 2 minutes ‘red-time’ was too less a time to spend with
this girl.
Having
realized that her 2 minute wait was closing to an end, she put on her helmet
and kick-started the bike. And before I knew she drove past me. I didn’t even
get a chance to bid a good bye to her.
I
found myself thinking about the girl even after she left. I realized that there
was some special aura about her which attracted me towards her. Is this the
feeling which humans call love? Is it even possible to love someone you have
just met? I was under the impression that love happens only when you know a
person completely. What do I know about this girl? I know nothing; not even her
name. Slowly but surely I figured out the answers to the above questions.
***
Love
is not about staying together for ever after. Love is something which affects
people in such a way that it changes their life ever after. The interaction
between people in love can be as brief as 2 minutes but the after-affect can
last for a life time. No other commuter had ever intrigued me like this girl
did. The girl, for me, was more like a divine epiphany that knowingly or
unknowingly motivated me to live longer and keep performing my duty and thrive
to impact the life of humans in positive way.
Next
day when the technician returned, he opened up my circuit box. After examining
it for a couple of minutes, he said, “I don’t think we need to replace this
anytime soon. I am surprised that it’s still working just fine. Some minor
repairs and it will be as good as new”
***
an art, by
Shashank
Shashank