My Dear lovable joynetters, Earlier today I was having a terrible headache and feeling a bit nauseated. I boarded a bus from the terminal to go home. As usual the bus was already full.
Whenever I dont get a seat in the bus, I do the next best thing. I allow my sharp eyes and keen intuition to reveal to me a potential short distance traveler. Its very easy for me to identify that because long distance travelers engage themselves in that occupation that has made Delhi one of the most respected States in India. They snore!. Short distance travelers on the other hand keep looking out of the window, turning back to see what the last stop was, etc For me its childs play to make out who is who. My eyes roamed and I located a potential opportunity for me to enhance Delhis respectability if you get my drift. More so with my headache and nausea, it would be very embarrassing to puke onto a co-passengers shoes! Well, to cut a long story short, yesterday was one such day that my sharp sightedness and keen intuition failed prove their onions! Instead of cribbing and magnifying the problem by grumbling about it, I took my rosary and started praying it. By now the bus was halfway thru the journey and jam butter packed! One thing that really irritates me most at such times is that the conductors keep pushing the passengers more and more to the middle of the bus as though once you reach the middle a stroke of enlightenment dawns on you and you suddenly evaporate, thus making space for lesser mortals! I get peeved with it! Inbetween my hailmarys I was muttering, He who perseveres to the end will be saved! To my disgust, my testing had only begun. What I hate most happened. A huge giant, maybe 7ft tall and weighing about 300 kilos (I say giant because JJ is no pigmy!) came and stood right infront of me, his mere presence churning my bones into powder!. This time Id had it! I just couldnt take it anymore. I prayed, Lord, I dont care that Im a charismatic, I know I am a great admirer of Maximilan Kolbe and Mother Theresa, many a time in the past I used to pray to become a martyr, but never once did I expect it to be this kind of excruciating death! Im gonna use my might to exercise my fundamental right to breathe freely! Afterall the Kingdom of God is taken by the tough guys AMEN! With I put my rosary on my neck and wriggled making space to breathe. Then slowly I took one foot and gently placed it on the toes of this fat guy, I did it carefully so he wouldnt know its me. I kept it there for sometime and then I stomped! yeeeeks! the guy screamed wondering if something had bitten his toes. He never realized its me. I kept doing it on and off when I needed a gulp of precious oxygen. The guy was getting exasperated and started hurling epithets (not at me ok) that if I post on joynet, I can guarantee the whole core team will fly to Delhi and give me the royal boot! Stop laughing!, my latest earthly possession-the headache was getting worse and pretty nagging. I stopped my pranks and sincerely prayed, Lord do I have to take so much trouble. Cant you just inspire this passenger to get up and give me the seat, on humanitarian grounds? another scripture flashed thru my mind, all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose Sigh! Atleast some relief! My hopes of ever obtaining the seat were dashed when the seated passenger started snoring. I knew, this chap is here to stay! In the now more jam packed bus I couldnt move a bit. Destined to stand! The jam packed bus was speeding along the highway and suddenly the bus screeched and swerved off in the opposite lane, flinging nearly half the bus into the drivers cabin. On looking out, I saw a cow majestically catwalking on the other side. The driver, in a desperate attempt to spare this natural speed breaker (cow) he nearly send us all to eternity long before our time! There were screams and shouts, adjectives coarse and fine gushing from the mouths of the passengers The bus was brought to a halt. The drivers head now was being used as a TABLA (Indian drum) by some of the irate male passengers (tharigidda thoom! Tharigidda Thoom!) I could hear moans of thod diya re haddi! (my bones are crushed!). The passenger snoozing on the seat I desired with all my heart, had a souvenir on his bleeding lips. In his deep sleep he had been awakened to the reality that the steel handle on which he was leaning on and snoring was much stronger than his lips and teeth! As for me, I did a quick scandisk to check whether there were any errors or damaged files on my being. Praise The Lord! None! Had I got that seat, 100 percent I would have sought solace in a snooze, more so with my headache. Catastrophe would have been the aftermath! A few teeth knocked off! Another thing, had that fat gentleman not come and stood infront of me I would have been killed or transformed into papadam with the impact of the jolt! With him infront, I had a comfortable cushion that absorbed the shock for me! Praise The Lord! By the time the bus resumed journey, most of the passengers got off, preferring to reach home a little late rather than entering the pearly gates too early! Wow! I finally had enough place to travel like a maharaja! Sometimes, God gives us headaches, denies us seats and puts fat men (obstacles) before us, only because he has got the eternity perspective in mind! Im living proof that!! So next time dont gripe when things dont go your way. Gods way is the best. Smile! All things work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. God bless you all, Josun Jose/ New Delhi/India ----------------------------------------- This email was sent using FREE Catholic Online Webmail. 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