Your Attitude Decides Your Altitude!

It was 4 a.m. when Rajshree (my spouse) & I met Samir Tirkey, our chauffeur from Gangtok to Bagdogra airport.?

We just concluded a great holiday in the hills and our experiences in Gangtok and the Indo-China border were mesmerizing with scenic environments, the sight of Kanchenjunga et al - pure and serene.

Through our brief holiday, our only disappointment was the poor infrastructure that we witnessed and especially on the Siliguri - Gangtok Strip and yes... - the landslides which we experienced through our journey at Gangtok but luckily did not interfere with our holiday and our fun.

The smiling Samir sprung up to load the car with our heavy suitcases with a smile the moment he met us. We were saying bye with a heavy heart to abode for the last few days and to Gangtok as we passed through its narrow curvy and steep bye-lanes.

Samir and we gradually got talking. It was a pleasure to know that Samir and his ancestors are from Jharkhand however they had settled in Gangtok many years ago. Through our conversation we got to know that Samir had never visited Jharkhand, however was very much ingrained in the culture, knew the language - infact he spoke confidently in Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, Sikkimese (Bhutia), Lepcha and Nagpuria and also understood English very well.

When I spoke to him about my introduction to Jharkhand - his culture, dance, and Handia (rice beer) through a good friend of mine who shared the same hostel room during my college days in Pune, he felt even more excited to speak to me - letting me know that while being born and brought up in Gangtok, his family still practices the culture of his roots, speaks the language, dances at festivals, dresses and also enjoy the meals of his origin. Samir very proudly spoke about the importance of culture and having his roots ingrained therein.

While it was still very early in the morning, Samir put on some good Bollywood music and very artistically led us to some very melodious songs in Nagpuria, sung by the folklore of Jharkhand - which he so proudly spoke about.

To top it all, what struck us most was Sameer's attitude. He displayed a positive happy demeanour humming and singing to the tunes of his stereo without any hesitation or qualms of us judging him or shutting him up.

It was around 6.30 a.m. and we were half way through our journey when he sensed that we wanted to stop for a break. He took us to a nice small but clean sweetmeat shop, where we not only relieved ourselves but also grabbed some mouth watering freshly made Paratha-Sabzi (Flat unleavened Bread & Vegetable), some hot rasgullas (a ball shaped - milk based sweet ) and first brewed hot tea. Having our breakfast at 6.30 a.m. is not something we are used to, but the temptation was too strong to resist.

Our conversations through the journey ahead carried on like some long lost friends. He introduced us on our journey to the Chicken's neck - a highway forest road known for its foxes and wild elephants. To capture the moment on that neck of our journey, we were happy to stop on the main highway road and click a pic of us right in the center of the highway. Samir was happy to capture the moment, while I nervously tried to dissuade Rajshree, not wanting to get hit by a speeding vehicle - it was still 7 a.m. in the morning.

As we approached Siliguri, we realized that our journey was soon coming to the end with Bagdogra airport just a few minutes away. We were soon coming to the close our pleasant and fun morning drive.

It was just a few days ago when we landed in Bagdogra airport and had driven from there to Gangtok - the drive on that day was so painful due to the long 7 hours drive with potholes and traffic and a chauffeur who was so sad and sick, that it was possibly my saddest painful drive ever.

And here we were, the same journey back - the same journey done in almost half the time. Never dreamt in my wildest dreams that the pain of getting up at 3.00 a.m. could become such a pleasurable drive - one of the best journeys from one point to the another with a chauffeur who had a fantastic positive attitude and whose only motive was to enjoy the morning drive and take care of his customers with utmost care and fun.

That morning Samir got us to experientially learn something very important. Samir decided his attitude (literally from a great altitude). We learnt that YOU can DECIDE THE TONE you want to set for your day / moment - EVERYDAY and in the NOW.

Attitude is all that matters!

And it was Samir's attitude that decided his altitude in my mind!

Great Respect for Samir and to all the Samir's of this world who decide to make the world a better place not just for themselves but also for the people around them.

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