Translate

Monday 27 January 2014

The state of being Bored

Our mind blanks out many a times. In such a situation, it feels like the mind has become empty and there is nothing to do, nothing to think about. The influx of ideas or thoughts suddenly slows down,  the excitement level dwindles and there is a sudden gloominess that begins to conquer our minds. Then one only likes to sit down and keep staring at something or maybe do nothing and lie down. Or maybe, suddenly everything seems to be uninteresting. Well, if you think these are the signs of sheer calmness overpowering you, then you are absolutely wrong. Yes, because calmness or peace doesn't come with that gloomy feeling and also it doesn't make us feel that our minds our empty rather it just relaxes us. And neither does it gives that uninteresting or a weary experience. So what is that awkward feeling then? Or in fact, is it actually awkward? Is it linked with calmness? Why does it occur? Loads of questions! Lets face them then.

The explanation of all the above mentioned signs lies only in one word, ''bored''. Getting bored is the most common thing which occurs in almost everyone's life cycle. You get bored, maybe on a regular basis, you get bored after coming back from work, you get bored when you face sleeplessness or maybe you get bored because you get bored(without any reason)! There could be many weirdest of reasons to get bored. It's nothing odd to occur and it comes suddenly and it depends when one realizes it that he/she is "getting bored".

Google defines boredom as "feeling weary and impatient because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one's current activity" and it is no doubt a correct definition, to some extent! This definition needs a bit of editing because it is too much of technical and not aptly practical. Boredom is a state where one feels impatient and itchy to do things, where one is unoccupied and where one is on the threshold of launching into ideas and actitvites! Now, the latter part of this definition might seem confusing but it is actually true. When one gets bored, it feels like the time is passing and there is nothing to do and in extreme situations, one tends to have run out of ideas and thoughts. But actually, this is the moment to pounce upon the mind. It is the moment to tap upon the hidden thoughts and ideas and allow them to flow.

Whenever there is this feeling of getting bored just take a deep breath, repeat it atleast five times and then just let yourself relax. Let the body calm down, let the impatience go down and let the body feel more comfortable. After this short exercise surely that "gloomy" feel will get off. And as the mind was empty previously, it paves way for more new thoughts. The more new thoughts come the more the mind seems busy, the more ideas come, the more our mind activates and the chances of getting involved into something increase drastically. And soon one exits the boredom state!

Boredom is a state which one "feels". It seems quite normal to experience but actually it is dangerous! How? Well, the answer is quite simple, it kills time, unknowingly! Yes, time keeps on ticking and there is only one thing that comes to the mind, "i am getting bored". Now, thinking this again and again makes us feel bored but actually evrything is normal, its just the thinking process gets inhibited and that's what pushes one into the state of boredom.

Boredom or getting bored is just psychological, it is just that one is idle without any work and he/she starts feeling bored, unnecessarily. It is all in the mind and nothing else. All one needs is to push it away from the mind and its quite easy to do so. So, next time you get bored just read this post and boredom will be a long gone history for you.





                                                               

Thursday 9 January 2014

The regular delays

Reached Hyderabad yesterday after a long and a highly delayed journey. Boarded the train from Delhi and with massive fog all over the plains, the train was on time for the first hour or so but then what happened god knows, it got delayed and delayed time and again. The train delay problem is a major issue during winters, especially in the plains where fog causes havoc and leads to disruption of the rail system.

Well, coming back to my train journey, the train had around nine stoppages in total but as i had to get down in between, the stations for me were reduced to seven, i guess. But it looked as if the train was stopping at actually every station that was coming in its way. And the winter famous "fog" excuse could not be given because the train got more delayed in the regions where fog is nowhere to be seen. It seemed that as the journey was progressing the train was getting more and more lazier! Everytime i asked the attendant that how much the delay was, i got the same answer, " two and a half hours". But in the night the lag had increased to three hours and till i got down at my destination, the train was late by four hours and the reasons are known best to the drivers.

What the funny part of it is that regarding any delays we people think of only one answer. Ask anyone and the answer will be the same, even if its not correct all the time! The answer would be, "train is late because it might not have got the signal to go ahead or some high priority train might be ahead of it". The situation has been the same for years and will remain as it is, for years. We satisfy ourselves by giving the same excuse time and again but its not the passengers' fault because  the so-called excuse is a legitimate one! Surprising, isn't it? Yes our train management system is inefficient to handle so many trains which leads to snags and long delays which could have been avoided if there would have been a better system to monitor. Even if a train is running on time it still unnecessarily gets delayed.

 I fail to understand why does the Indian Railway fail to develop a better and a fast system for train management. Hardly a train is on time as per its schedule, even the rajdhanis get delayed majority of times. It is a monotonous scenario where trains in India getting delayed whereas it is a surprising scenario where trains reach on time. But why is it so? why doesn't the govt and the rail officials look into this "delay" issue? why is it that the people take granted that their train won't reach on time? Have the people lost faith in the most massively spread inter-connectivity network of the country? And maybe the answer to it is a yes!

The country needs a more robust system which will manage the trains across the country more efficiently. Such a system is required which nullifies the delays in the non-fog regions and reduces the lag in the fog regions. Its upto the rail officials now to look into this matter and find the alternatives because it seems that they are finding it hard to manage such a mammoth rail network. The faith in the Indian Railways needs to be restored at the earliest. The snags must be minimised because the more of it happens the more peoples idea about the railways would change and that change would be better for both the people and the Indian Railways.