A story of an ‘auto wala'

We experience many incidents in our day to day life. Every experience is unique in its own way. Some do not draw much of our attention where as a few of them are rare and unforgettable. Such an incident in my life has motivated me to pen down my thoughts about hard work, confidence and positive thinking. It is about my encounter with a highly self- motivated person passing through a phase of difficulty in life with the highest level of confidence.

I work with a travel and tourism organization which is located very far from my home. It is a long journey for me everyday to work. Moreover, lack of proper commuting mode from home makes the journey tiring and time-consuming. I usually take three modes to commute to work i.e. a cycle- rickshaw, then an auto rickshaw to the nearest metro station and then a metro train to reach work and again the same journey on my way back home after work. It is sometimes really difficult to hire an auto at a reasonable price as most of them do not agree to take the route to my place due to bad traffic. At such situation there is no other way than hiring one at extra cost. This experience which I would narrate happened between my journey from work to home.

After a busy day at work, I took a metro to indraprastha metro station. I wanted to rush home to take rest as I was down with throat infection and fever. I was quite fortunate to get an auto at a reasonable price i.e. Rs 60/- with no much bargaining. The auto-driver seemed to be a very decent person, aged about 40-45 years old, quite different from the regular ones. I sat in the auto and started the journey of this great experience. To avoid the noisy traffic, really unsoothing to the ears, I put on my headphones to listen to some music. I was really unattentive untill the driver asked me something in good English "Ma'am, What do you do? Where do you work?" I casually answered him about my work, not paying much attention. He again said with a soft smile “Ma’am, you look too young, more like a student..". I was casual in saying " Everyone says the same" and laughed.

Suddenly, A question arose in my mind "Why is he asking me such questions?. He speaks good English. He must be a knowledgeable person". I was too curious to know about his knowledge when he started talking about MBA, Marketing and few more subjects, which I had studied during my MBA .Finally I could not stop myself from asking him, " Brother, how do you know so much about MBA?" He answered with a smile, "Ma’am, I am a Mechanical engineer and have done MBA in marketing was working with a firm in Singapore". I was wonderstruck!! His english was flawless. The first question that came to my mind after hearing his words and I asked, "How come you running an auto?" He narrated his story smartly “Ma’am, I am 45 years old and have 10 years of work experience in Mechanical engineering. I have a family with wife and two children. About 6 months back my company in Singapore was shut due to recession and I lost my job. I came back to India soon after and am currently staying with my parents. Situations were same in India too in relation to recession." His words were full of confidence and were impressive. He said he has suffered a lot in terms of loosing a job and not able to find one due to crisis but at the same time has not given up. Not wasting much time, he had got this auto to earn his and his family's living till he finds a job. Hence, since last two months he is driving an auto. I was silent for some time after listening to his story…

He ended up the conversation saying “Ma’am, I didn’t give up in life and would like to give you some tips about life, if you don’t mind". I agreed and He said something very interesting "At the end of everyday, we all should spend 20 minutes to think what all we did in that particular day. How did we utilise our time and improve our thoughts? and what is next ?" Finally I arrived my destination. I got down from auto and wished him all the best for his future.

Since then I have been thinking about that person and his positive attitude towards life which made me write about him. Having experienced such an unexpected and touching thing after a hectic day of work, I felt as if a new day has started with a great feel of positivity within myself. Such experiences are rare and unforgettable, from which we learn to tackle difficulties in life with a smile. This is a message to all the readers to always keep the confidence level high in order to succeed in life.

"NEVER GIVE UP"