We Control Our Behavior

On a usual crowded evening, the colorful crisscrossing lines at the metro station were as ignored by the commuters like the possibility of having the fun working day. While most of them moved mechanically with utmost accuracy of their well-trained feet, some of those folks moved in circles like a puppy trying to catch their tail, confused about the whole metro arrangement.

The metro swooshed into the station and came to a perfectly aligned halt with the guiding lines. And in a second, people dived into the cabins without heeding any thought to this engineering marvel. Scrambling with their belongings, they scattered around the cabin like ants do on reaching a dead-end trail, searching for seats, empty wall, or just a breathing space, in that order.

Soon everyone settled in whatever space they could find, waiting for the doors to close sl that they can pursue their usual in-the-train-routine. Some had already started with music or books or snoring.

There was a group of young students, discussing about what young minds fathom. Two of them were seated while the other two hanged with their hands clipped to the overhead poles. When the door was about to close, a man with good age entered the tube with a slight limp to his left.

A:

The man entered with a frown on his face. He looked around and felt disappointed at having no empty seats. He sighed and moved towards the breathable space near the opposite gate. This line has all the stations towards the right so he wouldn’t be bothered there. No one really paid him any notice, but almost all of them had seen him enter with that limp.

B:

The man entered the tube with a limp but showed no signs of remorse or defeatism on his face. He moved with rather a prideful smile and a straight back. He walked confidently towards the other end of the door, as the stations on this line were all on the right, he could stand there without bothering the other commuters. Everyone looked at him, at least once, intrigued for the story that the man would have to tell about his limp.

The group of young students were engrossed in their discussion, loud and candor, and let out occasional burst of laughter and aggressive pats and pushes to their friends.

The crowd grew slowly silent after a few stops, now occupied with their own personal distractions and devices. But the group of young students was ever talkative. Except the occasional announcements by the AI lady, their chatter was the only sound muffling the train’s movement on its tracks.

A:

Whenever the burst of laughter and shouting of “ uncultured” words spread around by the young students, the old man would visibly twitch and take in a sharp, audible breath. Annoyed that one couldn’t find peaceful silence in public transport anymore, he loathed the group of youngsters even more. Children these days…

B:

The old man engrossed in planning his own day, enjoyed the chatter in the train. It was the usual sound of being inside a metro. The muffled rumbling of the tube, occasional screeches of the brakes, chatter amongst the commuters, ruffling of papers by people still preferring the old style paper reading with their newspapers or books, some distant cry of an infant unwilling to live in this manmade cylinder with no interesting or entertaining sight around, and some music leaking from the headphones of someone who doesn’t want to take in any of these sounds…

A:

The old man listened to the chatter of the young minds and registered his disagreement in each of their statements. Ah! What will they do to this beautiful world with their adamant and over ambitious ideas! Good old days are surely over…

B:

The old man found the discussion going on among the youngsters quite fascinating. He wouldn’t think like them when he was of their age. Although lacking his wisdom and experience, it was so interesting that these young folks would not be thwarted by uncertainty or fear of failure. Always erupting with ideas and new ways to live, it would be interesting to see how these minds change the world…

The train got more crowded after one of the busy stations on the line passed. The old man and the group of young students were close to each other. By this time, almost all of the passengers had forgotten about other passengers aboard. And it had gotten too crowded to observe anyone with interest, except for the few lucky ones who had their eyes on their crushes.

When the train moved again, one of the young fellow lost his balance and fell on the old man. The old man held on to the pole to keep both of them from falling and the young fellow, after regaining his balance, turned to the old man, almost laughingly and said “Sorry uncle…”

A:

The old man had lost it. First these idiots don’t even have good manners to offer their seat to the aged, that too a person with some injury. And then they have the audacity to disturb everyone traveling with their mindless chatter! And now, hitting an old man like that! These irresponsible na?ve kids need to be taught a lesson.

”What the hell is wrong with you? Can’t you stand properly? Don’t you see I’m standing here and I already have my leg injured!?”

Baffled at the outburst of the angry man, the student, rather hesitantly, again replied with a simple sorry. Unable to understand what else to speak, he moved back to his group, this time grasping the pole rather tightly.

The entire journey, there was visible tension between the old man and the group of students.

B:

Both the old man and the student regained their balance, the old man smiled and said: “Careful, my child!”

The student stopped laughing and said sorry to the old man, with a slight bow of his head. This time his apology was more sincere than before. He went back to the group and their chatter started again, but this time they were mindful of the people around and turned their voices down a notch.

Occasionally, the old man and the students would exchange a smile and then go back to their own thoughts. The student was waiting for the old man to look back towards them. As soon as the old man turned, the student offered him their seat. The old man refused at first, but then obliged at the students’ persistence.

Over their journey, the old man shared his tale from the army and the students listened to his stories of bravery with awe. Soon they exchanged ideas with the old man and took notes from his wisdom and experience…

How the world behaves with us is often a product of our own behavior… and even when it’s not, our behavior is the only thing that’s in our control.